Usagi
by Yggdra
Summary: Being reborn into the world of Remnant is nothing to fangirl about; it promises nothing but a life of constant danger and an uneasy peace. But despite that, Lune Beryl is determined to live her second life to the fullest—even if the world seems to enjoy going against her. It's better than not having lived at all, right?
1. Chapter 1

**Preface** **:** Greetings, everyone! I know that this kind of story will probably make you want to press the back button, but if you decided to read on to sate your curiosity, I appreciate y'all taking the time to pay this story some attention!

As mentioned, it's a self-insert, but not an actual author insert, mind! The character is as originally as I could write her. I suppose you could say that there's so many good SI fics out there that's done really well for itself, and I've been inspired to write my own. To be honest, I'm quite nervous; haven't written anything in a long while. I only have my RP experience for my writing style. Lol, I feel like a first-time writer! XD

That said, sit back and I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter One**

 _Let it be known that, after the accident and her immediate reincarnation, she would have preferred staying dead._

 _There were just no words in her vocabulary to perfectly describe what she'd been feeling after that. But if anyone knew how, they better ring her up and tell her, thank you very much; there was no best way to tell what being suspended in weird, sticky fluid was like. Not to mention being one hundred percent conscious while inside what appeared to be someone's womb, and to be unable to do anything about it._

 _However, if she had to throw around any second-best adjectives she could think of, she had this to say: the whole experience was freaky. It was traumatizing, unnatural, and most importantly, nonsensical._

 _It was especially that last part. Normally, when a person died, that was it. The End._ Finis.

 _Normally, a person didn't get a second chance at life. It was only something people liked to write about on their spare time._

 _And, normally, a person wouldn't—shouldn't—be aware of being a fetus with all the_ whimsical, wonderful _qualities that came with it. If a god existed, she'd like to have a talk about her being a freak of nature. Oh, she would especially like to have a talk about how she'd prefer never experiencing this whole thing again._

 _Because, let it be also known that being birthed into a completely new world was the worst encounter she'd ever had in her entire life._

* * *

Her name used to be Amelie Gauthier. But after the day she was pushed out of her new mother's womb, her name became Lune Beryl, a sweet bundle of joy that brought a tired smile from her mother and a proud one from her father. She was, in their eyes, the best kind of baby first-time parents could ever have: helpless, small, and _perfect_.

Until she opened her tiny mouth and started wailing like a banshee.

But to be fair, babies crying soon after they were born was a natural thing. It was their best way of using their lungs for the first time, to show that yes, mommy and daddy, they were alive and well.

At least, _normal_ babies did. For Lune, crying was her immediate way of portraying her shock at the new changes she wasn't prepared for. The sensory overload was too much for her to handle; the lights were too bright, the sounds too harsh, and before she was cocooned in blankets, the cold air felt like a thousand needles pricking her sensitive skin. Her fine motor skills had pretty much flown out of the window as her old life had. And she was currently being handled by these gigantic but strangely colorful blobs. If she didn't feel so stupidly disoriented, she would have been bemused at being passed around like a basketball.

Once upon a time, she thought that babies had it easy. If they weren't sleeping, they were drinking milk. If they weren't drinking milk, they were pooping on their diapers or rolling around in their cribs. A simple life.

Boy, oh boy, was she dead wrong.

Honestly? This was the type of thing she'd prefer happening to her worst enemies. _This_ should be the type of vulnerability that should happen to rapists and terrorists and murderers. Not to innocent teenagers who accidentally plummeted to their deaths because some asshole pushed them over the railings.

Yup, that was how she died. On a nice, autumn afternoon, then-Amelie had been strolling in the mall with her friend, chatting and giggling like elementary schoolgirls. Typical girl talk. They were having the time of their lives—until a man had harshly shoved her and her friend aside as he squeezed between them and fled towards the nearest staircase. The man was a shoplifter, and he was being chased by a security guard.

Her friend had been lucky enough to only bump and trip a window shopper. _She_ hadn't been as fortunate. The moment she was falling, watching the ground rush closer and closer to her, she knew it was game over.

But then, someone pressed a reset button—sorry, _the_ reset button—and here she was now.

"Shh, Little Lune, it's all right. Mommy's here," whispered someone. It took Lune a few seconds before she realized her crying stopped and she was now being cradled by someone: her new mom, it appeared. _Oh_ _… yeah… I have new parents now,_ Lune thought. She guessed she was still in a state of shock to let _that_ sink in fully. She expected to feel a stab of pain from being reminded of what she'd lost… but it didn't come.

As her infant body relaxed, Lune felt the woman's warm lips come into contact with her forehead—a gentle kiss. It reminded her of sunshowers.

"I know this isn't going to be the best 'welcome to the world' message out there, but I'm going to say it anyway," Mom continued. As Lune's eyes were still blurry and unfocused, all she could do was imagine a wry smile on her mom's face. "Welcome to the world, little bunny. You might find life to be tough, particularly for people like us, but at least we have each other. Just remember: we love you, and that, at least, will never change."

It wouldn't be until a long, long while later that Lune fully understood what her mom was getting at. The implications wouldn't sink in right away.

Because, oh no, there was something else she was going to end up realizing first. And it was something that could rock her world to its core.

* * *

By the time Lune had turned one, she had accepted what had happened to her.

Not that she had any trouble doing so, anyway. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't as upset as she thought she would be. No depressive episodes, aka angst (thank God), no bargaining, raging, nothing. Just water pure acceptance. She knew she'd left behind a life that had yet to reach its full bloom, along with everything she'd cared about, but… Dead was dead. Spilled milk. Shattered glass. Unless you're good buddies with the Grim Reaper and you could have your soul returned to its original body, you don't really have any options but to move forward with your head held as high as you can.

And, well, she supposed her new life as a baby had helped her deal with those issues plenty. Being one was distracting! Ninety percent of the time, she was asleep. The remaining ten percent was usually divided between being breastfed, rolling around on her bed, relearning how to walk and talk, and trying to acquaint herself with the world she now lived in.

She hadn't really gotten far with that last part. Other than the fact that coherency was a rarity for a growing infant, her world these past few months had been nothing but the wooden bars of her crib. She'd pretend that the mobile hanging above her was the sun during the day, and the moon, during the night. Sometimes, she'd think it was one big star. Or a planet, if she so fancied. Lune's crib, center of the universe.

The only hints that she'd gotten so far about her current world being a wholly different one from the last was the fact that River, her mother, and Vert, her father, had some unusually strange characteristics.

There was their keen sense of sight (she'd noticed how Mom and Dad moved in the dark as if the lights were turned on… _waitaminute_ she saw them in the _dark_!), their strange preference for certain foods (Mom with carrots; Dad with chickens), and… well, they had their appendage. _Animal_ appendage. While Lune had dismissed it as a trippy hallucination at first, constant contact with her mom revealed that the woman had a really short puffy tail behind her. Her dad always wore a bandanna, but there was no mistaking the strange bumps on his head as ears; Lune had seen them twitch once or twice, when Daddy was peering on the crib and she was giggling from the hilarious faces he made at her.

Not Earth. This was definitely not Earth. Her list of ideas got narrowed down, down from an ocean to a lake, but she hadn't learned enough to pinpoint any location. She figured her situation was too far-fetched already that any kind of fictional universe was a possibility.

Where, then?

"Hey, sweetie, guess who's here?" said a male voice. At the same time, the door to Lune's nursery creaked open. A head of russet hair popped into her line of sight, a foxy grin set on his face. Which was kind of funny, because his bandanna was removed and his fox ears were in plain sight. "Yup, that's right, Daddy's back."

As her greeting, Lune let out a happy sound. It was quite the adjustment to think of River and Vert as her parents now, but they were just so nice she'd feel bad if she regarded them with anything _but_ affection. Aw, who was she kidding? She came to _love_ these two people.

"Yes," another person continued in a bemused drawl, making her dad draw back and look behind him. There went the door again. " _Daddy_ came back, alright. He entered through front door with a stupid, dopey grin on his face. When I asked how his day went, he gave me a quick peck on the lips and rushed straight ahead to the nursery."

They probably thought their banter was just between the two of them. Something private, something that only they could understand because they were the ones who had the power of language. Little did they know, their little girl was listening as intently as she could. Lune rolled to her side, and with an innocent look on her face, she watched the two grownups stare at each other with a certain spark in their eyes.

"What can I say?" Dad shot back good-naturedly. "I just love seeing my little girl that much."

"Way more than me? Wow, that's just… _ow_. Plunge the knife through the heart, will you?" Mom then said. She honestly didn't mean it. In fact, Lune had come to learn that her mother simply liked wielding sarcasm like a sword, and everyone she talked to were on the business end of it. Most of the time. The woman shook her head and quickly wrapped her arms around her husband before she stepped away. "But hah, seriously, welcome back to this humble abode. Really, how did your day go, hon? You've been out late today. Busier day at Signal?"

"Well, it's not exactly busy—I'm just a part-time teacher there, remember? Rather, it's just, y'know, _the usual_." He rolled his eyes at the thought. "I mean it. It's been a typical day. Get up early to make a quick trip to Vale, grab some breakfast in the commercial district, get scowled at by some random passer-by because in their eyes, I'm a 'filthy Faunus who shouldn't be standing in the same place' as him. Like, sheesh, I'd wonder how far in that stick's up his…" He trailed off after seeing the knife-sharp look on Mom's face. _Language_. He shrugged helplessly, but it was clear on his face that he definitely didn't like the way he'd been treated.

"Anyway. Yeah, the rest of the day was spent in Signal. Honestly, I would have been home much earlier if it weren't for that Beowolf in the forest outside the academy. A student must've been feeling really down in the dumps and decided to talk a walk and all before going back inside. Probably unintentionally attracted the thing; it's all good, though, since I dealt with it. It was a particular tough one, but I managed. What I'd kill for a Grimm that isn't attracted by negativity…" He finished.

"Considering that you, Mr. Huntsman, only have Grimm to kill, I doubt you'd find anything you're hoping for." She shook her head and grinned. Mom resembled the sun whenever she did that. "Well! Anyway, I'm glad I didn't end up a widow today, or else Lune and I will have words with you in the afterlife. Just when she's taken to babbling, too. I bet it won't be long before she starts talking."

"Huh, is that so. Wanna bet on what word she says first? Loser gets to treat the other for dinner. Personally, I think she'll go with 'Daddy.'"

"Boyish as always, oh husband of mine. And for the record, Lune looks much closer to saying 'Mommy.' If only you'd hear what syllable she's been trying to say these days…"

 _Fiddlesticks_. It was a good thing Lune didn't have enough mastery over her facial expressions, or else she might have scrunched her face as an urge to kick herself arose. Mom must've been watching her during one of those days when Lune was trying to make her voice box work the way she wanted it to, right after her nth attempt to stand up and walk failed.

But… wait…

As her parents continued chatting by the side of the room, the Amelie in her blinked and grew still. Her hand hovered in front of her face as her mouth began opening slightly, some sort of pressure building up inside her.

Because, really, some of the words her parents have mentioned had felt like a trigger to her past memories. A shiny, big red button unintentionally pressed. And right now, the lights were flashing red and the alarms were blaring everywhere.

Signal Academy.

Grimm.

Huntsman.

 _Faunus._

RWBY.

Lune suddenly had the urge to scream when Amelie already had. And whether it was in sunshine joy or storm cloud despair, she had absolutely no idea. There was only one thought in her mind that repeated itself, over and over like an old record that she'd get annoyed with until she threw the thing out of the figurative window.

Just when she'd thought she accepted her new life with open arms, this particular scale ended up getting tipped.

She was reborn in the world of Remnant. _The_ Remnant, the world where one of her favorite shows took place. Where all sorts of different characters she grew to know and love resided. That would explain the color-inspired names, the equally colorful outfits, and the animal appendages. The realization definitely socked her hard in the gut.

While this happening was every fangirl's dream come true, at the same time this could possibly be a nightmare. The world of Remnant was _dangerous_. That was why most people grew to become Hunstmen and Huntresses—to keep the Grimm at bay and protect those who couldn't protect themselves. And the Grimm? Not only could they end up destroying a city if they were plenty enough, they could mean the death of a person. Any person.

And this? This was her reality now. It was as if the rose-tinted glasses she'd been wearing for one year had been snatched away. Stomped on and thrown in the trash.

She wouldn't be anything like a fictional main character, who always seemed to wear some sort of plot armor at all times. There wouldn't always be some deus ex machina there to save her out of a bind. If she got killed… _if she got killed_ , it was all over.

And she might not get another chance at life.

Lune unintentionally made a strange sound at that, making her parents look at her in concern. A gurgle and a giggle immediately reassured them that nothing was wrong. When the two adults returned to chatting, she went back to mulling over her thoughts.

On second thought, maybe she didn't feel like screaming at all. She simply rolled her body until she faced the other side of her crib.

Maybe something already changed in her as she reincarnated, but instead of shrinking back and pretending that everything was going to be alright, she felt like letting out a long, resigned sigh, shaking her head, squaring her shoulders, and marching towards her future with grim determination. That she'll make the most out of this life, and whether she lived or died at the end of her story, she would be fine as long as she had no regrets. Not like her old life.

No pressure. She could handle this. She _will_ handle this.

But for now… she was going to live in the moment. Carpe diem. She was just a one-year-old, after all. She had plenty of time to decide what she wanted to do with her life—and babies, certainly, didn't really stress over their futures until they were at the right age. Mom and Dad would be there to protect her always, and she could just rely on them, stay under their shade as she physically grew.

When River and Vert went over to smile at their little girl, Lune stared at them and gave a gummy smile back.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope I managed to make it interesting enough from start to end. Please, feel free to review and tell me what you think! I would appreciate any feedback you would give me. It could help me improve in the long run and really make this story shine! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 _You know what?_ Five-year-old Lune thought as she stared at her glorious—or, perhaps, not so glorious—reflection in the mirror. Her parents were currently in another room, talking, and for the moment she was free from pretending to be a kid. She lifted a tiny finger and poked at the spot where her nose was reflected, green eyes narrowed accusingly.

 _I swear, there are times when I look at you, I feel like I_ _'m in the presence of a stranger. I would make a small gasp, wonder who you are, and it would be several seconds later before I realized that, holy cheese sticks, you're me. Reflections aren't supposed to do that_.

Lune sighed. It was a hilariously depressing thing.

Even though four years had passed since finding out she lived in Remnant (Remnant!) and she was more used to her body now, much like a glove that finally felt right in her hand, there were still those occasional moments when she'd actually jump and panic at the sight of her own reflection. Lune had even done it once when her mom was around—and River Beryl's face would have been absolutely priceless if the woman wasn't trying her hardest not to laugh at her kid's expense.

"That's a mirror, sweetie," Mom had explained, as if Lune didn't know what the piece of glass was. "It's something that shows what you look like: a lovely little girl."

Chubby and plain would be more like it, considering there wasn't much about her to write home about. A typical little girl. That worked. Maybe. Whatever; for mothers, all their children were beautiful.

Still, that wasn't the point. Her new body was just so different from her old body, she just couldn't help but compare everything old from everything new. It was a silly activity she indulged herself in, but it _did_ keep her reminded of where she came from.

Comparison number one: when she'd been a brunette in a past life, she was now the proud owner of wavy, moon-white hair.

Yes, that's right. _White_ hair. She knew that Remnant was home to many people whose hair color could be anything from the color spectrum (case in point: Neopolitan), but she thought she'd be born with something a little more… normal. Something less special snowflake-y, pun so intended. Then again, the concept of normalcy was nuked out of existence the moment she first saw her mom's rabbit tail.

Funny how she noticed the tail first and not her mom's shoulder-length, equally white hair. She blamed the existence of hair dyes.

Comparison number two: she now had four ears when she used to have just two. That is, she had _two_ rabbit ears in addition to her two human ones. Lop-eared, too, and they were pretty adorable until she had to listen with them. Those bothersome appendages were the reason why she had such a hard time fine-tuning her sense of hearing as she grew older. It was like having many television sets open at once, all in different channels and volumes. Too many were the times she'd mistaken the distant sounds to be ones that were near her. And vice versa. Too many were the times she cried about it.

"Well, kid, it's something you learn to get used to," Dad had told her when she lisped her question to him, hands clutching her long ears. He'd turned her frown upside down after he made his own fox ears wiggle in an amusing way, green eyes alight with mirth. "Believe me, Daddy knows how you feel. But don't you worry, okay? I'll help you through this. Before you know it, you'll be a listening expert like yours truly!"

He'd been kidding when he said all that stuff about being an expert. But he _did_ help her out with her earful problem.

Lune didn't clearly recall how the entire adapting process went, but it did involve stepping out into the front of the house every weekend, just standing there and listening to the ambient sounds coming from the forest nearby. Dad would point out one particular sound to focus on, like twittering birds perched on the branches, and she'd do her best to tune into that until that was all she heard and the rest were comfortable background noise. Then he'd tell her to switch to something else to listen, and she'd do exactly that. Rinse and repeat. He even joked it was a good thing they lived in Patch and not in the city of Vale itself; the exercise would have been "hell on Remnant."

Lune smiled briefly at the memory. As of now, she hadn't completely mastered her Faunus hearing, but she liked to think that she was on her way there. No pressure; she was still technically a little girl and she had all the time in the world.

Last but not the least… comparison number three: it was already mentioned, but the fact that she was a _Faunus_ now would always make her realize that she wasn't completely human anymore. Which was an odd thought in itself, because as far as she knew, she walked like a human, talked like a human, and had the morals of one—rabbit ears and all. If it weren't for the finer details like her newfound preference for leafy vegetables… or what she'd dubbed as 'rabbit reflexes,' she didn't feel any different from any other person. A pink elephant would still be an elephant, right?

 _Not that I_ _'ve met anyone other than my parents, anyway,_ Lune wryly thought as she finally stepped away from the mirror, shook her head, and stuck her tongue out at her reflection.

She'd mostly lived a sheltered life growing up, and during the times she was actually getting some sun outdoors, she was accompanied by either parent—and they didn't really stray too far from home, just making the occasional stroll here and there with a deliberate avoidance of the forests. Patch, after all, wasn't completely Grimm-free.

…What about taking a trip to the busy streets of Vale instead, you ask? Well, sure, they could go there. Contrary to what the Remnant map suggested, Patch wasn't _that_ far from the city, just one or two hours of travel from home. But, while most of the city population learned to coexist with the Faunus, there were still some bad apples that wouldn't hesitate to throw barbs at the first one they'd see. A family of Faunus was just asking for attention, and River and Vert weren't all too keen on having their little girl exposed to such things just yet.

If only they knew how 'special' their daughter actually was…

Lune's ears suddenly picked up the sounds of footsteps and, realizing that her be-Amelie time was well and truly over, she removed the thoughtful expression from her face and replaced it with her usual relaxed smile. It wasn't too hard to act like a five-year-old. So long as she let her mind take the backseat and leave her body to do all the reacting, she was fine. She wasn't going to be winning any Oscars anytime soon for being a good actress, but at least she wasn't terrible at it, either.

The sounds stopped as they reached her room, and with a creak that made the girl wonder if the hinges needed oiling _again_ , the door swished open and her smiling mother came into view.

"Ah, great, you're awake." Mom began, her eyes sliding to the mess of blankets and pillows on the bed. Lune's crib had long since said goodbye, probably hidden away in some kind of crib heaven somewhere. The entire room had been redecorated from a nursery into a little girl's room—with glow-in-the-dark stars stuck in the ceiling. Lune liked those the best. "You really like sleeping, don'tcha?"

"Yep." Lune answered easily. Her smile grew wider at the thought of just lying there, doing nothing, and lazing the day away.

What could she say? Sleeping was practically an art form. It was also a rare commodity for adults, and she intended to make the most of her childhood phase.

The girl received an affectionate head pat in response, and she brought up her green eyes up to meet her mom's amused blue ones. Yep, her mom was chuckling. "Considering how we got you a bed that's advertised to be highly comfy, I'm glad to know our money didn't go to waste… or we got lucky and didn't get ripped off. Which wouldn't be anything new. Right." She shook her head at herself, frowning faintly before brightening up again. "That said… sweetie? We need to talk."

There was something about the word _talk_ that made a faint, little warning noise in her head. How could one simple verb end up implying so much?

"…Am I in trouble?" She asked. Or, better yet, was she and Dad in trouble? Because Mom found out about her favorite vase being accidentally broken after he and Lune goofed around during his off-day? She _swore_ that was just her kiddie body being its clumsy self. She was normally more graceful than that. Honest.

"If you're talking about the vase, I found out ages ago. Your father is terrible at keeping secrets," Mom dryly said. Lune sputtered for an apology, and this time, her mom couldn't help but grin and pat her on the head. "No grudges, no grounding, no worries. So no, you're not in trouble." She squatted down to Lune's eye level and, after glancing at the door, winked, covered the side of her mouth with a hand, and whispered, "Between you and me, that vase was _ugly_. I only said it's my favorite to pacify your father. He'd practically flipped over a mall in search of an anniversary gift. At the last minute."

Lune had no control over the giggle that decided to slip away from her lips.

"I know, right? That was definitely my most memorable wedding anniversary yet. But let's get a bit more serious right now, okay, Lune? There's just something _we_ wanted to talk to you about because it's… well, important."

"That's right," said another voice, making the two glance at the door. It was Dad, and while he looked more serious than playful, a smile was still on his face. Today was his day off, so he wasn't needed in Signal today. Right. "It's just something about what's going to be happening soon."

"You mean the school thing that's starting next week?" Lune asked, blinking.

That was right. She was about to start her schooling soon. She'd thought she was going to end up somewhere like Signal Academy already, but she'd learned during her secret reading sessions (the kind of reading impossible for a five-year-old) that the combat academies all across the world only accepted kids aged ten and up. Before that, you were either home-schooled or enrolled in a civilian school so your academic knowledge was up to snuff. Once that's done, it was a choice of deciding to go down the path of a Huntsman or Huntress or continuing your academics to end up being a part of the working class.

After all, how would Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, or Atlas function if nobody was there to work on all sorts of things? To keep things running and functional? The entire population couldn't all be Huntsmen, and forcing them to be one even if they're terrible at it would just raise the mortality rate.

Dad helped her mom stand up to her full height of five feet and three inches, and his fox ears twitched slightly as he surveyed Lune's room. He smiled in bemusement. Lune's room was messy as usual, resembling a war field with all sorts of toys strewn on the floor. It was as if the place was nuked by a toy chest bomb. Though, funnily enough, Lune _was_ pretending to be in some sort of war. Teddies versus dolls, a battle of the century. She had pretended to be the catapult and had launched both doll and bear up in the air.

"That's right. There are still some things your mommy and daddy are concerned with before you start school. Well, mostly your mom"—Dad decided not to finish that thought after receiving a not-so-subtle glare from River Dearest—"…never mind. Right. We just need to get a few things across so you're not completely surprised by what you'll encounter next week. And believe me, kiddo, I'd sooner hope that wouldn't be the case because I'd rather you lived a fairy tale."

Inwardly, Lune nodded in understanding. Remnant was technically a fairy tale setting of sorts—with just a few futuristic touches—but it sure as hell wasn't as bright and colorful as a packet of Skittles. Strip away the discrimination, conflict, terrorism, and other stuff, sure, Remnant's a dream. But while she still wished to plow through life as cheerily as she could, she still acknowledged that no world was ever so idealistic.

Which meant that because she was a Faunus, she had as much a chance of being on someone's shit list as catching the common cold in her new school.

"What do you mean?" She still had to pretend to be mostly innocent, though. Her parents had already thought her to be smarter than the average child; she'd prefer things to stay that way before she got promoted to being an anomaly.

Her mom and dad exchanged uneasy glances, knowing completely well that their daughter was about to get a taste of how this world ran. Dad lifted a hand to squeeze Mom's shoulder reassuringly, and Mom reached out to touch his and give a squeeze of her own. They didn't like what they were about to tell Lune, but it really had to be done. Lune silently promised the two that she wouldn't hold this against them.

"I'll start." Mom decided to say. She proceeded to sit at the edge of Lune's bed, patting the space beside her invitingly. The girl immediately clambered up and sat beside her mom. "Lune, you know that this family isn't… _normal_ , right?"

 _You have no idea_. "Yup," Lune said, bobbing her head up and down and making her hair bounce. "Dad's a Faunus, you're a Faunus, and I'm a Faunus. And, uh…" She scrunched her face, rummaging through her thoughts as to how she would put this. "Humans are waaaay different from us. They don't have ears like mine."

There sat Dad to her left, giving Lune the impression of a sinking boat with the way her world suddenly tilted slightly. "That's right, sweetie. And because of that…" He looked at Mom for help, only to receive an encouraging nod. "Y'see… not all humans are friendly like you are."

"Well, there wouldn't be any nice people if there weren't bad ones, right?" Lune said.

"That's right, but I'm sure you'll meet some perfectly good people, too," Mom said with a cautious smile. "But still… when you're there now in the school we enrolled you in, it's going to be a big adjustment. Some kids your age can't help but notice how different you are. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if some brat started pulling your ears, though that would mean I might have to have a few words with his parents…" the last part would have been an unintelligent mumble if Lune's ears weren't trained to listen well.

The girl tried not to quirk a smile at that; River had grown softer over the years, but some words coming out of her mouth were still rough as sandpaper. Not exactly the best role model, her mom was. It was endearing in a hellishly weird way.

"Why would they pull my ears?" Lune asked anyway. She inwardly apologized because the temptation had been too great to resist.

The poker face on Mom's face was a work of art in itself. She then sighed. "Right, enhanced hearing. Sorry you had to hear that, sweetie. But yeah, the point is, Lune, some people are going to be mean to you even if you tried your best to be absolutely nice. And I know this is _definitely_ not something any decent mother should be telling her child, but well…" She shrugged helplessly. "Circumstances dictate that we warn you in advance so you don't get as hurt as you would have been if you thought everyone was nice."

 _That made sense,_ the girl admitted inwardly. _If you expect everything to go well and it doesn_ _'t, it hurts like hell. But if you do something with the expectation that you could still fail, it doesn't bother you as much._

"Honey, you might as well have ripped the bandage off," Dad decided to say with a slight grimace. He opted for ruffling Lune's hair affectionately, the same way he'd been doing it since the strands sprouted from her scalp. "What your mom means is that if you have a rough first day next week, and encounter even rougher days after that, we're here to help you out."

"Even though I still think she should just stay home-schooled." Mom muttered.

"River, we talked about this."

The woman sighed. "I know. But still."

It made for quite the interesting thought to wonder how River and Vert would have been like if they were much, much better at giving parental advice. But then, Lune already liked them as they were. Their flaws were what made them _them_. She honestly didn't mind how weird it was to be given that kind of advice when she was technically only a little girl.

' _Sides_ , Lune thought as she stared up at her expectant parents. _I_ _'m not a normal five-year-old either. I guess being different definitely runs in the family. Go me._

For a moment, her parents seemed to worry about what she was about to say. Maybe even expecting a few waterworks because technically, no kid should expect rejection so soon. So to make them feel better, Lune grinned at them toothily and said, "I can handle this. It can't be _that_ bad."

And immediately decided that she deserved a kick to the stomach. Using stilettos. Because that statement right there? It was a huge neon sign that invited all sorts of trouble to come raining down her like some kind of super typhoon. She'd read the books, knew the tropes; a screw-up was inevitable.

Judging from the forced, pleasant expressions on her parents' faces, she knew they were thinking the same thing.

* * *

The first few weeks, surprisingly, flew past her without too much incident.

While she was the only Faunus in her class, nobody really bothered to the point of reducing her to tears. There were still the occasional stares tossed at her during snack time and she was munching on some carrot sticks… and then she was also the recipient of a few jabs about her being a four-eared freak… but those were nothing Lune was going to break down for.

Kids were kids. She wouldn't hold this against them because they were just influenced by their parents; most, if not all, would grow out of this. The only time she would start pointing fingers and calling someone an asshole would be the time when the person was old enough to think for himself.

Too bad her live-and-let-live mindset had to be ruined by her unintentional excellence in her academics.

It wasn't all that bad at first. She'd sit quietly behind her desk as the teacher in front flashed some questions on the board via high-tech projector, and whenever she knew the answer, she'd raise her hand and give what the teacher was asking for.

Every information presented in class, she soaked up like an extremely hungry sponge. There were her letters, which she already had a head start on, thanks to Mom. Then there was her math class that so ridiculously easy she contemplated falling asleep on the spot. There were also some historical stuffs sprinkled throughout the lessons, like the simplest reason why everyone's name was based off a color, and etcetera, etcetera.

She also passed her tests—though not necessarily scoring the highest because her _super-secret special condition_ gave her an unfair advantage over everyone—and she even made some her teachers feel grudgingly impressed for performing so well in school. Grudgingly, because _some_ teachers were actually making an effort to reign in their Faunus prejudice.

Basically, Lune had done so well for herself that, by the time she her second month in school came and went, she ended up getting shoved into the spotlight.

As Murphy's Law dictated, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." So when Lune was finally seen as a threat by some of the students aspiring to be the pride of their parents, she felt like she was pushed off from cloud nine and sent splashing down into a puddle of mud. In white clothes.

"My ears aren't toys, you know," Lune said irritably one day, when her personal tormentor, Aqua Grey, was by her desk again and pulling at her rabbit ear with a smirk on his face. It was currently break time, so most of the kids were either eating their snacks, playing a fun game of tag outside in the playground, or like Lune, patiently waiting in class for the electronic bell to ring and for the teacher to come back to class.

Her vision flashed red as pain spiked from another harsh tug, and this time it was starting to take an extreme amount of willpower not to stand up and strangle the blue-haired kid. Or throttle. Throttle seemed like a nice alternative.

 _Be the better person. Don_ _'t resort to going down his level, Lune_.

Plus side: his friends were out playing with their other friends. Not that Aqua let them join in on the fun game of Let's Poke Fun at Lune because she was his business and nobody else's, anyway. It was just weird being bullied while people just sat back and watched the not-so-entertaining show.

"Sure they're not," Aqua said. Another tug, another ache. Lune felt a vein in her temple pulse and eyed the door, wondering where the hell the teacher was. "Besides, smartass, it's not like you don't deserve this. Ma says animals like you shouldn't even be in school."

Lune pinched her thigh as murderous thoughts filled her head. Aqua would've been an adorable little boy if he wasn't busy being a brat and trying to get a rise out of her.

 _Be. The better. Person_.

"You're not as cool as you think you are by saying 'smartass'." Lune shot back calmly, betraying nothing of what she really felt. Maybe she just hadn't noticed before, but the whole animal thing was starting to get to her the more often it was mentioned. It was tiring.

And ever since Lune's recognition as one of the class' top students, she didn't go through a day without a snide comment or two from whoever walked past her—and usually, there were shoves accompanying that.

She dared not to acknowledge how those near-falls always result to a flashback of her previous life: that moment when, seconds later, she died.

"My friends think I am," came the boy's smug reply. Lune could still feel his hand gripping her ear. "What are you gonna do, tell the adults how I just said a bad word? They're just gonna think it's your fault for, uh... tainting their children, whatever that means. So I'm not going to be in trouble anyway."

Counting one to twenty was said to help people with anger issues. The white-haired girl was starting to wonder how true was that because she'd just gone past fifty and still felt the thorn-sharp pang of annoyance. "I know."

The boy stilled.

"...Oh." Aqua ended up saying, not expecting that admission.

Lune inwardly pumped a fist at the small victory. Before long, though, the boy regained his composure. He let go of her ear, but his hands moved on to gripping her chair. It didn't take a genius to know what could happen next.

But she wasn't giving him what he wanted.

"Still, I think you should just go home and stay there, freak. Or you should've pretended to be not here 'cause things were just fine before you showed you had a brain." The boy finally said. And for good measure, "I bet a _dog's_ still way smarter than you, anyway."

He really, really didn't have to rub it in. Blending in was one of Lune's goal when she started her first day in this school in Vale, but she didn't think that she'd stand out _that_ much by being smarter than most. She didn't want to kill off all her brain cells by taking it easy on her studies. Or grow insane from the ridiculously easy subjects. If staying quiet and average meant being away from the spotlight, though, maybe she was going to reconsider her study habits.

Or, she'll just flunk until she ended up being the dead last.

 _On second thought, maybe not. Amelie would be rolling in her grave if I did so much as deliberately screw over my studies, piss easy or not._

But then, thinking on Aqua's words… she realized something. It was like being smacked in the face by a trout. She was the adult here; how could she not have realized this?

"You didn't like how I ended up better than you, huh?" Lune asked, her voice almost hinting at wonder if it didn't sound so… lazy. Or sleepy. She finally brought her green eyes up to meet Aqua's surprised, dark ones. "Come on, Aqua, that's not true. You're still whom the teachers consider the absolute best in our class and I know I never will be. So stop being so—"

She would have said _insecure_ if it weren't for the fact that she would have sounded more like her teenage self—and if it weren't for the fact that her world suddenly tilted upwards and she was falling, falling, falling until she felt the back of her head collide painfully against the tiled floor. White stars filled her eyes just then, along with a few tears at the corners because _son of a bitch, that hurt like hell_.

Lune didn't realize that her heart was beating loudly against her chest. The last moments of her past life had flashed in her mind again.

She gritted her teeth. _Stop thinking about that, dammit. Remember: spilled milk. You_ _'re not afraid of falling because of that. Falling just hurts, that's all, and that's why you avoid that as much as you can_. _Safety first_.

As she opened her eyes, schooling her expression into that of boredom, Aqua's stormy face was immediately the first thing she saw. She rolled her eyes, stood straight, fixed her buttoned blouse, and picked up her fallen chair.

"That was fun. Let's not do it again," she simply said.

Seeing that Lune was barely affected by Aqua's actions, the boy seemed to decide that he wasn't done with her and decided to throw his hands forward to give the girl a good, hard shove.

Except Lune didn't fall this time. Because her footing was steadier, she simply ended up taking a few steps back. She raised an eyebrow at Aqua questioningly.

"You know what? Maybe you should just drop dead instead. That's what a Faunus deserves."

He didn't.

 _Drop_ and _dead_ should never be in the same sentence together. Something in Lune seemed to snap, so before her brain registered what she did, she stepped forward and gave _him_ the push he meant to give her.

There was probably a reason behind Aqua's blatant dislike of people like her that went beyond being better at academics, but at the moment, she felt too done with things to care. Her quota for daily torments was filled to the brim, thank you very much.

She never did take kindly to any person who wished death on someone, child or not.

* * *

The resulting fight between the two children only ended when a teacher finally stepped inside the classroom to pry the two apart. While Aqua only ended with a punishment with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist (helping arrange the chairs at the end of the day for three days), Lune was reprimanded harshly, punished with being disallowed to interact with any of her classmates for a week, and had her mom summoned for a talk with the teacher.

River wasn't exactly in a good mood when she learned what happened, though it wasn't Lune she was going to be pissed at. And judging from the harsh sound of the words escaping from the closed classroom as the girl waited for the adults to be done, the discussion wasn't going well.

Talk about disproportionate retribution.

"Sorry, mom," Lune could only say later as both mother and daughter were on their way back to Patch. The girl knew her arm was going to look colorful in the following days, thanks to the bruises forming from Aqua's punches. If her Aura was activated, this wouldn't have been a problem. Too bad she didn't know how.

On the plus side, Aqua would be looking like a panda Faunus tomorrow.

Lune smiled secretly. Silver lining, that.

On the other hand, River Beryl sighed. She wasn't even angry at her daughter. More like… she understood. "Do you want to be pulled out from school? Just so you know, that teacher of yours is one mean witch."

The girl's lips threatened to crack into a smile at the intentional avoidance of the word _bitch_.

"Nope. I'm okay." Lune replied, shaking her head. They eventually reached the port where a small ship ferried people to and from Patch. The sounds of lapping waves was surprisingly calming, and because the sky was cloudless today, the ocean was just as blue. "I'm gonna grin and bear it, Mom. I promise I'll be better than that next time. So, um, can I ask you something?"

"Anything, honey."

She'd been thinking about this during the brief silence that ensued after they walked past the school gates. It wasn't something she was eager about because of the risks that came with it. But then…

"Will being a Huntress make people think less badly of me 'cause I get to fight Grimm and keep them away from the city _and_ keep people safe?" Lune popped the question.

It made sense, didn't it? If a person was the only thing keeping the Grimm from killing you, you'd be glad he—or she—was there. Even if she were a Faunus.

Her mom blinked, caught off-guard. She almost stumbled from her walk if Lune wasn't holding her hand.

"Lune, sweetie? I think you should just get through your current school first before deciding on something. Or, well, finish your homeschooling if you ever wanted to have that instead." She said as diplomatically as possible. At the way Lune's face fell, she explained, "Being a Huntress… it's something you'll be doing for the rest of your life. It's dangerous, and, well, think of your dad for one moment. For each day he comes back, it's each day we risk losing him. It's a really important decision that shouldn't be made instantly because of what happened today."

Her mom had a point… if Lune hadn't entertained the thought as she grew up. But for the woman's sake, maybe she'll just let Mom enjoy raising her only daughter before she ever solidified her decision of going Huntress.

Fighting Grimm, defeating the bad guys, being a badass… maybe a _hero_ … it was an interesting life, sure. Idealistic too. But a cynic would point out that the life of a Huntress definitely wouldn't be all fun and games and saving the day. It would be more like killing and even more killing, and having an existential crisis because you'd wonder if you're doing something for the good of all or you're just one of the pawns in a gigantic chessboard.

"I guess I should think on it some more," Lune finally allowed.

The girl received a head pat in return. "You do that, kiddo. Now come on, let's just go home and put this behind us, yeah? We're having your favorite for dinner. And everyone else who thinks my little girl deserves to be punished for defending herself against a bully should go and get dunked on."

River Beryl, the sharp-tongued master of equally sharp words.

Anyway, one would probably wonder why a five-year-old enjoyed a dinner of _vegetables_ when the normal reaction should be _eww, green stuff_!, but with Lune's new food preferences and her old self being used to a meal involving salads whenever she was on a diet, she wasn't about to complain. Besides, a salad somehow tasted better with mayonnaise and bits of cheese. She liked cheese.

"Awesome!" Lune cheered, raising a fist of victory. Her mom laughed softly, and for a moment, the girl felt her chest grow warm at the pleasant sound.

As both mother and daughter boarded the ship and watched the island of Patch grow bigger and bigger, Lune decided she would just think of the whole Huntsman or Huntress thing when the right time came.

Five years. She had five years to weigh the pros and cons of this particular life decision. No pressure.

Lune wasn't about to deny the fact that being a skilled combatant would mean a smaller risk of dying in this lifetime, though.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter might have been done sooner if I wasn't so sleep-deprived most of the time. Merci, college life.**

 **I'm floored by the amount of response the first chapter got, though! Admittedly, I was only expecting one. Maybe two at best. It's a really good way of encouraging me to write more, heh. So with this chapter, I hope the length makes up for the time spent waiting! I usually do any additional polishing a day or two after I finish anything I end up writing, so my fingers are crossed this one is as good as the last.**

 **And before anyone ends up asking... no, Lune isn't going to be shoehorned into team RWBY. Or any other canon teams, for that matter. Not when I already have a team planned out for her. You'll see~  
**

 **Thanks for the reviews, follows, and faves, everyone! Feel free to also tell me what you think of this one. :D  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

After what felt like forever, Lune exhaled in resignation and finally looked up from the desk inside her room, eyes sliding to the starry ceiling above as if to pray for guidance.

It was pointless. Pointless! No amount of intense staring was going to dry up her damp notebook within seconds. And if she managed to do so anyway, there was no salvaging the pages that contained nothing more than an inky mess. There went all her written exercises and silly doodles whenever she lost her attention on the teacher. Stupid Aqua.

It was currently the weekend, _Saturday_ being displayed on the digital calendar on the wall. She could get her parents to replace the thing before she went back to attending her classes, but…

 _Here I thought I finally have something to show Mom and Dad to brighten up their day_ , she thought with a frown as she plucked the squelchy thing from her small desk and chucked it into the nearby trash bin. While the notebook was mostly witness to her developing ability to hold her pencil steadily and write more legibly, she'd drawn a future version of herself in one random page that ended up looking cool enough to show to River and Vert.

A work of art for a five-year-old—and it also entertained her thoughts of possibly becoming a Huntress someday.

 _Pffft, me. A Huntress._ Lune shook her head and stepped back, turning and climbing up into her bed. She laid back down with her arms stretched out. Another sigh escaped her lips.

She didn't have any solid plans just yet. As of now, she'd rather focus on surviving four more years in that stupid civilian school without completely snapping and traumatizing her five-year-old peers. All she needed was the right mindset to survive; she was too stubborn to quit and let Mom do all the teaching at home. She thought herself a nice person, but with the likes of Aqua making sure that each day was as bad as the last, she was growing more and more tempted to find the nearest cliff, push the boy off it, and call it a day.

Kids like Aqua were making her wonder how the hell she used to like children in her old life—or at least, she _remembered_ liking children then. Kids like Aqua were the reason why she was pranked during every other day starting Monday, and she would be discovered by her mom to be sopping wet, with a piece of gum stuck on her hair, or to appear to have survived a food fight of epic proportions. Using her snacks as ammunition.

And, kids like _Aqua_ were the reason why she counter-pranked during the days not mentioned. She'd had it with her not-giving-a-crap attitude. Whoever said ignoring bullies would make them grow bored of you should reevaluate that statement. Though, who'd have thought she had a flair for being a clever little ankle-biter? Or, for that matter, who'd have thought the one thing she'd outgrown had come back in full force?

She grinned at a particularly cheery memory from last week. Of course, she made sure that her moments of mischief didn't have any lasting effects on her target. The worst she'd ever done was proving the name Aqua suited the kid after accidentally bumping against him… and sending him splashing into the school's fountain.

A kid's mind was still a fragile thing, after all, and while she hated Aqua with the intensity of a thousand suns, possibly more, she didn't want the brat to grow up and hold this against her.

For all she knew, he might become someone particularly angsty because his life went south. Nobody had time for _that_. Besides, while Lune had the tendency to slack off at times and frustrate her peers, sleep more often than not (when was the last time her bed looked clean and pristine?) _and_ exact revenge on the people who really, _really_ crossed the line, she was, in whole, a nice person.

She hoped. Her current way of living was really making her consider being a cliched villain just to spite all those meanies.

Lune paused her thoughts, blinked, and resumed them again with widened eyes.

…Meanies. She did not just think of those people as _meanies_. What was she, fiv—wait, darn, she was. Her birthday wasn't about to come until the next month. And her thirteenth birthday wasn't swinging by to say hello until eight more years.

 _I think I_ _'m starting to forget how to be an adult_ , she thought in despair, her mental voice just as tiny and squeaky as her real one. She twisted her body to reach for her pillow, picked the thing up, and smacked it into her face. Repeatedly. _This happened because I_ _'m always exposed to children, ensuring I pick up some bad habits… the same way a person catches an accent the longer he stays in one foreign country. Dammit. Who knows what I'll be like by the time I reach ten, graduate, and move on with my life—_

"Am I… interrupting something important, Lune?"

The pillow went flying.

"Dad!"

She might have been too hasty in getting off her bed, because instead of getting to run towards her dad to tackle him into a bear hug, her foot got entangled in her blanket and she ended up _gracefully_ falling face-first into the carpeted floor. The world apparently decided that today was a good day to remind her to _make her bed_.

Lune felt her upper body being gently gripped. She was lifted up into a standing position, and her line of sight switched from the royal blue carpet and into the half-amused, half-worried green eyes of her dad. If the dark red scarf wrapped around his shoulders didn't hide his mouth from direct view, Lune would have been sure his lips were twitching from suppressed laughter.

"Let's hope there isn't an encore of that," her dad said. "You alright there?"

Mortified, possibly contemplating hiding under the bed forever. And a half. Obviously, she wasn't about to say that aloud. She grinned anyway, and proudly placed her hands on her waist. "My nose hurts a bit, but I'm fine!"

Regardless, he gave the girl a once-over, just to be sure that she was, indeed, fine and dandy. He nodded in confirmation and stepped back to give Lune some space. He smiled in relief.

"Whew, that's good. The last thing we both want is, well, you know…" He awkwardly scratched at the back of his neck as his fox ears flattened. "For your mother to raise a fuss again. Or for you to get injured. Remember that Sunday?"

"Um."

 _Oh, god._ She found herself nodding slowly.

How could she forget? It would take a miracle just to stop thinking about it; a divine intervention wouldn't even do anything. The darned memory was very much like a weed in the garden she couldn't get rid of.

It was the Sunday of last month, to be more specific. Once upon a time, she and Dad had a merry game of tag outside the house. It had been a bright and sunny autumn day then, so she'd thought, _What better way to spend it by jumping on several piles of leaves and go fooling around because I technically am a kid and I should do some kid stuff while I can?_ So she got her dad to spend time with her, and the ensuing game had been really fun—

Until Lune ended up spraining her ankle because she didn't spot the stupid rock on the grass.

After that, there was some crying, some panic, and eventually it boiled down to River raining hell down upon them—upon _Vert_ _—_ for being so careless. Playtime Fun Times with Dad had become less often in result.

"I don't wanna remember." Lune bluntly admitted with a similar expression. With the kind of subtlety that a five-year-old like her could accomplish (which was, in other words, little to none), she moved on to sit on her bed and changed the topic. "Did you just come back from work, Dad?"

Vert patted the pair of chakrams strapped to the belt on his waist, indicating that yes, indeed, he'd just gotten home from a day of teaching at Signal.

The weapons looked simple on the outside, almost boring even, but a past moment of showing off by her dad had informed Lune that the weapons were also two halves of an assault rifle. She remembered being in awe as she watched the pair of weapons transform before her eyes. And because the chakrams themselves also had two chambers where vials of Dust was stored, placed on each side of the handle, Lune never grew tired of seeing flames dance or ice form from each graceful swing.

Had she mentioned Dust was amazing? Because it _was_. It was the energy source for almost everything. Utility, combat… you name it.

"Pretty much." He said. He paused for a moment, appearing to contemplate his next words. Lune patiently waited for him to speak. When he finally knew how to say it, "So. I've heard from your mother that you've been asking about the whole Huntsman business. I mean, I can see the appeal. Zero to hero. And in your case, that probably means less people to bully you around."

Lune nodded at that one.

"Yep, that's what everyone in my class says about them. The zero to hero part, I mean. They were all, 'The Huntsmen and Huntresses are so wicked cool with their shiny weapons! I wanna be one someday!'" Lune said, accompanying her words with the enthusiastic gestures she'd seen her classmates make during break time. "…But I told Mom I'll really think on it 'cause it's not safe." She tilted her head to the side. "Are you mad?"

Her dad shook his head no. In fact, he smiled.

"Far from it, kiddo. You know I rarely get mad. That's Mom's job." He said, his wry tone of voice an accurate imitation of his wife's. "And as much as I like knowing that my little bunny wants to take the path I've taken, your mom's right. It _is_ that dangerous. Buuut, I can see you're not entirely set on the idea yet, anyway, and I'm not surprised." That resulted to an affectionate ruffling of her hair. _There goes my brushing efforts_. "You're interested, aren't you? I know you've seen me train once or twice outside the house. You're probably wondering what a Huntsman-in-training did before they became someone like me, right?"

Lune already knew, but of course, saying yes risked her cover. It was one of the few tidbits she made sure would cling to her as she spent more and more time in Remnant.

As of now, she still remembered a good fraction of the RWBY-verse. But then she knew that in a decade or so, she'll have forgotten most of it. The fog in her mind only got thicker and thicker until it completely covered her old memories—until all she knew was that she had a past life and was living a new one.

And honestly? She wasn't all that bothered. To forget some past memories was a natural thing; everyone experienced that, growing up. Some key information might still be retained, sure, but the finer details would be forever lost until something triggered the memory. Besides, if she'd landed in the right timeline (considering how Beacon was still standing…), the knowledge of what _will_ be happening was one kind of baggage she didn't want to carry around. She sure as hell didn't want to end up looking at a familiar face and proceed to feel sorry for him or her because this or that was going to happen.

"I thought everyone who wanted to be a Huntsman enrolled in a combat school before going to places like, um… Beacon Academy?" Lune said. And realizing that she might have sounded _too_ knowledgeable on that one, she quickly added, "That's what I heard from everyone around me."

"They're right, actually. But some exceptions include people being already trained _outside_ a combat school. Those cases are few and far-between, and usually, it's the entrance test that proves if you deserve to be enrolled in Beacon anyway. Or Atlas, Shade, or Haven. Obviously, those special people would be evaluated much more differently than the ones from a primary combat school."

Lune could only look at him curiously, not knowing which next words wouldn't ruin her facade. Thankfully, Vert mistook it for the kind of confusion that most children usually have when it came to topics like these.

"But I'm thinking that kind of discussion's better continued in a future time, when you're much older. It's all probably just words to you at the moment. So…" He looked mischievous for a moment before he broke out into his usual, cheery expression. "What if I told you that, next month, you can come with me to Signal Academy and watch the students in action? Maybe I could help you decide on what you want in the future."

"Whoa, really?" She sat even straighter on her bed, attention now piqued.

"You've been well-behaved for these past few months—for the most part, anyway. Don't think I don't know about the incidents in your school with this Aqua kid. I'm glad you're putting up a good front against the bullying, but those pranks you're retaliating with…" Her face was of angelic innocence at his brief, pointed stare. The mischief glinting in her eyes, however, betrayed what she really thought. "Right. You got that from me. Never mind. A-ny-way, what was I saying? Oh. Yeah. Do you want to see Signal up close, sweetie?"

"'Course I do! But what about Mom? Did you tell her about it already?" Lune knew full well that most things these days needed her permission. She and Dad when left alone were a magnet for trouble.

"I did." He said. He almost sounded victorious that moment, and Lune wondered what he did to convince River that he was going to be extra-careful with his little girl this time. To her mild embarrassment, some of her thoughts slipped into something rather inappropriate. She hastily shoved the very idea from her head and tuned back in to what her dad was saying. "…In fact, it's all settled. That's actually why I came to you in the first place."

"Then message received." Lune grinned. Her dad grinned back. He hadn't noticed her spacing out.

"If that's the case, mission accomplished! So now…" Vert straightened up and pulled off his scarf, appearing to relish the open, cooler air. "I'm going to go change into something more comfy now. Dinner's going to be ready soon. Right, I almost forgot that one." His face turned sheepish at that last line. "Your mom would _slay_ me if you ended up late for dinner again because nobody called you."

 _Mostly because I_ _'m either deep in my daydreaming or fast asleep._

"She's scarier than the Grimm when mad," Lune said in agreement. Not that she'd actually _seen_ a rampaging Grimm before, but she was sure he knew what she meant. "And thanks for taking me to Signal next month."

"No problem, kid. Look forward to it; it'll be an interesting day for you." He said and ruffled her poor hair again. At this point in time, maybe it wasn't too much to wish for her rabbit ears to stand up straight; they'd definitely make for a good obstacle against affectionate head-patting or hair-ruffling. She got those more often than hugs.

Anyway, there went Dad, whistling a catchy tune as he stepped out of the room. He gently closed the door and she heard the knob click shut.

For a moment, Lune simply sat there and stared at the closed door, her mind suddenly racing with all sorts of thoughts about what could be happening next month. They mostly revolved around the word _badassery._ It wasn't until ten minutes later that she realized something. Something that she'd meant to tell either Dad or Mom because the sooner this was dealt with, the better.

She hadn't asked for a replacement notebook. A replacement for the one Aqua ruined when he'd chucked her bag into the school fountain as revenge.

Lune palmed her face.

* * *

One month later, Lune found herself walking down the stony path towards Signal Academy. As she paused before the large, open gates that could be her gateway to her own future, the little girl couldn't help but let out a soft, impressed _wow_ as she regarded the rather majestic structure beyond her.

The school reminded her of castles in fantasy films or novels, except it looked more futuristic in design with the smooth walls and the polished look. It wouldn't hold a candle to the architectural marvel that was Beacon Academy, but it was pretty close.

Fairy tale setting, indeed.

"Like what you're seeing, Lune?" Her dad beside her asked with his usual, toothy grin. Or at least, she _thought_ he had a grin on. His scarf was obscuring the bottom part of his face again; at some point in the past, he ditched his bandana and went for a scarf. It probably had something to do with his little girl being more at ease with her Faunus-ness and decided that he ought not to hide what he was, either.

Though, Lune swore her dad resembled a ninja with that getup. The fox ears were, admittedly, a nice touch.

"It's _amazing_. Like something out of a fairytale." Lune blurted out, unable to peel her eyes away from the school.

She felt her shoulder being patted just then. One, two, three. "Then it's great Signal's giving you a good first impression. That's the same thing I thought when I started working here—things were very different back in Vacuo. Sandier, rougher, and obviously, hotter. I'll tell you all about it sometime."

She looked at her surroundings, taking in the sight of the foliage and the different students walking past her.

Ten and older, just as she'd thought, and they were in their own little worlds, chatting with each other about topics ranging from viable weapons out in the field to what outfit scheme best suited them as full-fledged Huntsmen or Huntresses. The color scheme and overall theme was apparently a particularly important factor in the entire getup. And after seeing one student walk briskly past her and her dad with his weapon in hand, tinkering with the thing and miraculously not bumping into anyone, Lune suddenly thought it might not be such a bad idea to aim for a future career as a Huntress.

Might as well have a direction in life this early on than none at all, right? She wouldn't want to be one of those teenagers who picked a career choice just for the sake of having one because they were indecisive.

She wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"This your kid, Vert? I guess you wouldn't miss out on the fun of taking her to work today. It _is_ that time of the year." A man said with a hint of a slur, catching Lune's attention. As she looked up, it took all her willpower not to make her jaw drop after she took note of the dark, spiky hair, the stubble, red eyes, maroon cape, and the dark clothing. _Holy flippin_ _' pancakes._ _It_ _'s—_

"Oh hey, Qrow. Thirsty as usual, I see," Vert greeted cheerily, referring to the hip flask in the other man's hand. Lune supposed that, since her dad _did_ teach at Signal in this reality, the two becoming acquaintances was inevitable. There was no mistaking the air of familiarity between them. "I thought it was about time Lune gets to see what it's like to be an aspiring Huntress. It helps that River finally decided she's old enough to risk the trip here with me."

 _Keep calm. Be seen and not heard. Keep. Calm. No fangirling. Just no.  
_

"Right. River. Your personal set of ball and chains." Qrow said, leading to Vert rolling his eyes in bemusement. "To be fair, the woman has a legit, good reason to be that cautious with her little girl. I doubt she'd be over _that_ incident of hers anytime soon. Reminds me a bit of Taiyang these days, actually."

A knowing, uncharacteristically serious look crossed Vert's features, one that Lune almost missed if she wasn't busy keeping herself together. "How's he doing, anyway? When he's not burying himself with work, I mean."

Qrow shrugged. The action would have been concluded helpless if it weren't for the (fake) dismissive expression on his face. "Still the same since he heard the news about Summer. You wouldn't be able to tell him apart from a zombie. And he's stubborn. Still insists on teaching, even if everyone in Signal's telling him to take some time off. Well, except you."

"What can I say? The man's obviously coping in his own way. Might as well let him recover at his own pace." Vert said. "And the kids? Yang… and Ruby, right?"

"Yeah, it's Ruby. Cute little kid, that one. Obviously, she wouldn't even be aware of much at her age. I guess she's lucky in that regard. So yeah, she's fine." Qrow answered. "Yang, on the other hand… she's still the same ray of sunshine. She's probably what's holding the family together. She's kinda acting peculiar recently, though, so I've taken to keeping an eye on her." Qrow said, making Vert nod in understanding.

"I see. Well, I better not take too much of your time. God knows you need all of it for whatever it is you end up doing whenever you're not teaching. Or drinking." Vert grinned, obviously deciding that the time for the heavy atmosphere was well and truly over. He placed a hand at the top of Lune's head. "I still have to show Lune the classrooms. And the sparring rooms. I might even let her look at a weapon up close _if she promises not to touch it_."

"Hey, I pinky swore on the weapons things a dozen times already." She shot back at him before turning to Qrow with a calm, lazy smile, finally gaining control of her emotions. "Dad says he's gonna help me decide if I wanna be a Huntress someday. So he brought me here. He's awesome, isn't he?"

The look he gave Vert wasn't exactly in agreement. "…You can say that."

Ouch.

"You wound me, you know that?" Vert said in mock hurt. His fox ears flattened slightly at the reaction.

"It's okay, Dad." Lune reassured him, patting his thigh because that was the tallest she could reach. For that one moment, her innocent facade was suddenly difficult to maintain because of the snickers that wanted to escape her lips. "Mom still loves you."

Qrow, unsurprisingly, knew exactly what Lune was holding back. The way he was looking at her was as obvious as a black dot in a white sheet of paper.

"Well, Vert, this beats getting a completely negative response. Might as well take it or leave it. Or, you know, win the next fight we have to demonstrate for the students." Qrow said, chuckling. He gave Lune a mischievous smile of his own before turning away from Vert and heading towards the gates. But then, five steps later, he paused and turned his head slightly to her. "It was nice meeting you, kid. Would've been great if Yang was here so you'd at least make a new friend today. But eh, maybe next time. See you around, Lune."

And he was gone.

"He's quite the character, don't you think?" Vert asked his daughter, moments later.

"He's almost cooler than you."

"…I think I'll just leave it at that before your opinion changes," her dad decided to say, proceeding to take her hand and gently tug her towards the academy's main hallway. "Gotta wonder where he's going at this time of the day, though… last I checked, he's got a class to teach in half an hour. Oh boy, I'm going to have to cover for him. Again."

Lune could only give her silence as her answer, suddenly wondering the same thing. A faint memory slowly slid into her mind, but it faded away when she was suddenly distracted by the sights Signal brought her.

* * *

Lune didn't really know how to wrap her head around the gigantic wave of information washing through her as the time steadily flew by.

First, there was that thing about Dust: it was important to note that it was volatile, meaning things could go _boom_ at the slightest mishandling. So whether it was to be used through combat or utility, extra-carefulness was recommended.

Second, there was also the weapons training class Dad covered for Qrow, wherein she'd seated herself at the back of the sparring room and watched him instruct the students on how to make good use of their newly-created weapons. Without accidentally shooting themselves if they had a gun built in.

And after that, he would proceed to kick butt whenever it was his turn to spar with a student.

Lastly, there was that class where a student would _actually_ learn how to conceptualize their weapons. Because it was sometime in the middle of a semester, Lune wasn't able to understand most of what was being discussed, all of the words being nothing but _words_ in her mind as concepts upon concepts went through one ear and exited another.

She thought herself smart in her past life, but this was another playing field entirely.

Hell, she thought she was going to end up with a coma just trying to understand half the lesson. Especially the part how to make a weapon fold the way you wanted it to so it became your secondary one. Dad was all too amused by the time the class he taught ended.

All in all, a day at Signal was actually pretty interesting.

And the actual fights between two students slated for graduation in the near future? _Badass_.

"So what do you think, kiddo?" Dad later asked, sitting beside Lune as she watched a student with two fighting knives dash forward to deliver swift, brutal blows against another who quickly brought his bow up to block the hits.

The combatant then pushed the other student away, proceeding to flip backwards with the kind of grace a gymnast in her old life would be jealous of. Mid-flip, he quickly fired Dust shots that his swift opponent had to dodge-roll from. Knife Boy turned his knives into pistols and countered with several shots of his own.

Lune shifted in her seat and faced her dad, the sounds of clanging weapons and cheering students loud in the background. "I think I want to give it a try, Dad. It looks hard… but at the same time, it _is_ wicked cool."

Both father and daughter were currently in another one of the larger sparring rooms, wherein the seats were arranged like that of a stadium and the battlefield was several feet down below. If it weren't for the bright lights high above her, which was _also_ stadium-like, the whole area would be pitch black.

She supposed this was the best part Vert was saving up for her: the action, the semblances, and the elemental maelstrom that was Dust in usage. They were the last thing she was seeing before the two went home.

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder warmly. "Well, I guess that means you take after me more than your Mom. If that's the case, someday soon we ought to start conditioning your body for Signal's standards."

She blinked.

"You mean… training? _Exercising_?" The thought somehow made her grow pale and ten times unwilling to detach herself from her bed. _That means no more sleeping whenever I want_.

"Yep. That's right. You can't expect to get enrolled here without being deemed fit enough to survive seven years of combat school. It's just going to be basic exercises for now; we'll work on the harder stuff as time passes." He said. "So what do you say? Will you sign up for the Beryl Training Regime?"

"T-too fast. Can I stop to think about that for a moment? I still have school, Dad," Lune blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Anything to delay the future dent in her sleeping activities.

"Obviously, your education comes first. But I find that if you want to do something, you make time for it," he said, blissfully unaware of his daughter's new conflict.

Before Lune could object even further, the cheering all around them intensified as the student with the Dust-infused bow raised his weapon in victory, a toothy grin on his face. Taking that as his cue, Vert stood up and motioned for Lune to follow him out the door. "I guess we can continue this conversation another time. Come on, let's go make our way home."

"…Okay."

His hand grasping her smaller one, Vert Beryl led Lune out of the stadium-slash-sparring room and returned to the massive hallway that led to the entrance of Signal. Lune couldn't help but observe that, from the wall to the pillars they passed through, the color seemed to be predominantly white. There was also the occasional electronic bulletin board displaced on the walls, showing important announcements like the annual physical examinations, and reminders of deadlines like the expected completion of a Signal student's weapon.

It was also in that hallway that Taiyang Xiao Long sped past them in a yellow blur, running towards the outside area of the academy.

"Weird. Taiyang doesn't rush like that unless there's an…" Dad paused his speech and fell to a stop. She felt his grip on her hand tighten. " _Uh-oh_."

"Dad? What—"

He whirled towards her, letting her hand drop to her side. "You stay here and wait for me to come back, alright, sweetie?"

"But what—" She was interrupted again.

"I'm sure it's not as bad as we both think, but I'm going to go see what's up anyway." He said, laying it on her pretty thick. He gave her one of his infamous head pats, turned away, and followed Taiyang without letting Lune give one decent reply.

The white-haired girl stood there as she watched her retreating father's figure, crossing her arms as a pout wove its way into her face. Well, that left her with two branching paths, if she were to imagine this situation as something out of a visual novel.

Option A: She stayed here, acted like the good little girl that she was (mostly), and waited for Daddy Dearest to return and reassure her that whatever incident happened, it was fixed and she needn't find out about it. They would go home with her none the wiser, and Vert would probably never speak of it again because it could be a topic much more negative than she thought. Not that she couldn't handle it.

Then she would forever wonder what had happened and it would be branded a noodle incident in her mind for the years to come.

Lune frowned at the idea.

Option B: She disobeyed his orders, went to find out what happened, and either ended up completely safe or completely endangered because she just _had_ go off and sate her curiosity. Lune, you silly girl. She'd receive a severe tongue-lashing from Mom, should the latter happen and she was rescued from that particular bind, and Dad would be disappointed with her. Which would be really, really bad. Right after, she'll end up staying in her room because she was grounded—for the first time in their parenting history.

But at least she knew what had transpired.

"Damn it, what a toughie," Lune muttered under her breath and shook her head. The hallway was currently clean of people, fortunately, or else she'll have to explain why a five-year-old just cursed like that. Well, it wasn't really a curse at the level of words like shit or fuck, but the nature of the statement would definitely raise some eyebrows.

She might as well find out and go with the flow, whatever happened later. Any questions about life preservation could come later. Lune steeled herself at the numerous outcomes of her choices, inwardly apologized to Dad for disobeying him, and broke into a run towards the direction both Taiyang and Vert had taken.

* * *

Actually, her dad discovered her before she could even make her two tiny feet take several steps past the sliding doors.

For lack of a better way to describe him, he was definitely not happy to see her.

"Lune, I told you—"

"You wouldn't tell me why I had to stay there." She bluntly said, crossing her arms. "So I came here to find out for myself."

For a moment, her dad looked like he wanted to argue with her. But then the sight of Taiyang hugging his blonde little girl, Yang, and his red-haired tyke, Ruby, made him sigh instead and decided against telling Lune off at this moment. Something something this incident could happen to his little girl too, Lune guessed.

Upon closer observation, Ruby didn't seem to have any idea of what had just happened, just smiling and hugging her dad back like everything was just a game. But then Yang, on the other hand… she returned the hug, too, but it was plain as day on her face that whatever had happened, it definitely scared her. Shook her to the bone.

Despite that, bruised and tired as she was, Yang was doing her best to put on a brave front.

Though her eyes shone at the onset of tears.

The moment he spotted the dark-haired man looking on the spectacle, Dad went on to speak with Qrow, whose face showed signs of fatigue and whose clothes were smeared with dirt. Discreetly, Lune moved to listen in on their conversation.

"What happened?" Vert asked quietly, his cheerful demeanor gone.

Qrow shook his head. His response was hushed, no doubt about it, but definitely no less slurred from before, either. "It was Yang. Went to an uninhabited part of the island with Ruby in tow. They got themselves in danger, and I managed to save their asses just in time before those Beowolves killed them. Taiyang didn't know."

"God." Her dad looked at the family of three in shock. "I've heard of the kid being brash and stubborn, but this seems like a whole different level. What's gotten into little Yang's head to do that?"

"You might as well not find out, Vert. It's really complicated stuff." Qrow said. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he meant it was too personal to share with someone who was just an acquaintance.

"Oh. I gotcha. Lips are zipped shut, I guess."

Qrow looked as if to speak some more, but then his eyes caught on to the sight of Lune close by, who in turn resembled a deer caught in headlights after being discovered.

 _Eep_. Lune practically flinched, expecting a harsh rebuke.

She got the opposite.

"Might as well go talk to Yang, kid. She looks like she could use someone your age right now for company. Me, your dad, and Taiyang are just going to be talking a bit." As if on cue, Taiyang had straightened up and headed towards Qrow, acknowledging Vert with a solemn nod the moment their eyes met. Lune never got a good look at him before, so she was actually quite surprised to see the resemblance between father and daughter.

Blond hair, lilac eyes _._ Yes indeed.

Anyway. Lune looked up questioningly at her dad, green eyes meeting equally green ones. The man nodded at her with an encouraging smile and gestured to the other girl, who was currently at a loss of what to do. "Go on, sweetie. I'll get back to you in a moment. This'll be over before you know it—and _you_ could use a new friend."

Leave it to Dad to start on that one again. Okay, so maybe he had a point; she _didn't_ have any friends yet. She'd gotten the role of a kid down pat by now, but being friends with one when she had the mentality of a nineteen-year-old? Right. Sure. That wasn't awkward. Or Luna Lovegood levels of weird.

But then there was a first for everything.

"I… don't think this is a good time to make friends, Dad, but okay," Lune said, shrugging and heading towards the blonde girl.

Yang Xiao Long was definitely in worse wear than her younger sister, alright. Her clothes had tears in some places and her pigtails had come undone. Ruby looked pristine in comparison.

( _And_ , Lune admitted to herself, _Little Red actually looks cute in that sleeveless hoodie and skirt combo.)_

It hadn't been that visible before, but Lune could easily spot the scratches on her arms and legs now; watched the way those angry, red cuts stared back at her. The blonde girl's lilac eyes focused on her after realizing she was being watched, and those two orbs were curious. A little guarded. It was understandable, considering whatever circumstances befell her.

"The grownups said I should go talk to you two," Lune said simply, unaffected by the slight hostility. And with the sudden impulse to make the girl _at least_ smile a bit, she added, "I bet they only said that 'cause they think I don't understand adult speak. Little do they know, I can. I can even speak alien if I have to."

Maybe her clever and silly expression on her face got the job done better than the words that she said. Because, in retrospect, she hadn't really sounded particularly interesting. Just stupid.

Yang seemed to have brightened up, though. And the heavy atmosphere surrounding her thinned. "I guess I can go to you for any alien translations, huh?"

"Yup." Lune said. They fell silent for a moment. Then, having thought of a particularly impressionable thing to say, she finally said, "I'm Lune. I'm also part rabbit. So if you have any carrots to donate, I'd appreciate that, thanks."

She lifted one of her rabbit ears for emphasis and let it back down to rest on her hair. "Any leafy veggies work too, I guess. Just make them nice and crispy."

That got Yang's smile growing wider, at least. "I'm Yang. And this"—she gestured to the younger, red-haired girl innocently staring up at Lune with wide eyes—"is my sister, Ruby. I don't have any carrots at the moment, though, so maybe I'll just ask dad for some later." Her eyes slid up to Lune's ears. "So you're a… Faunus, yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"So if you're a rabbit, how come your ears aren't standing up?"

"'Cause I'm special like that," Lune responded with ease, at the same time kicking herself for now receiving the award for Most BS Statement of the Year. She shook her head. "Naaah. That's a lie. They've been like that since I knew I have them."

"They're really cute that way. Can I touch them?" Yang proceeded to ask, each word sounding bolder than the last. That was good; the girl was better off being her sunny, confident self. "I've never really seen a Faunus up close before."

Rabbit ear-touching gave her flashbacks of a certain blue-haired bully tugging at them like he wanted the appendages to pop right off her head. Her ears suddenly ached at the phantom pain, but she shoved those memories deep down, forced a lid on it, and nodded at Yang with an easy, lazy smile. _Shove off, Aqua_. "Sure."

She braced herself at the touch that could be painful to the sensitive pair... but nothing particularly traumatic happened.

Surprisingly, the fingers that brushed over the ear she offered—weird as _that_ sounded—were gentle. Ticklish, even, and the animalistic urge to make them twitch back was starting to become harder and harder to resist. She lost that battle, her ears doing just that. Yang drew her hand back in surprise.

"Sorry. That kinda tickled." Lune offered as an apology, sheepish describing her features the best. Mentally, she berated the damn things for reacting like that.

"That's okay. I liked how fuzzy they are." Yang said, recovering and grinning. "So where do you live, Lune?"

"Just on the southern part of Patch. Me and Mom and Dad stay in this nice house there. Dad's a Huntsman, so he takes care of the Grimm that ends up straying nearby."

"Then maybe I could come visit sometime? There aren't many kids here." Yang immediately said. Confidence, thy name is Yang. "I could get Uncle Qrow or Dad to bring us there. Or… or! You can go to our house. It's not far from here. I bet you'll like it there. We've got cookies."

Lune eyed the three adults still in hushed conversation. Figuring that Dad—or Mom—wouldn't mind a semi-frequent visitor, or mind her _becoming_ someone's visitor, she smiled. "Dad said I should make friends, so eh, why not?"

"Friends, huh? I like that. So okay, we're friends now." Yang decided. "No take backs. You're stuck with me, like it or not."

 _And that_ _'s the Yang I feel more familiar with somehow_.

She honest-to-goodness didn't have any genuine friends in the history of forever, here in Remnant. Most usually avoided a Faunus like her as if she were the damn plague. And if the civilian school she was enrolled with was of any indication, she had more bullies than people willing to talk to her.

But with Yang here so easily offering her friendship… without judgment or the usual scornful looks, Lune found herself liking the idea.

A friend. Probably not an instant best friend, or an actual best friend, but a friend nonetheless. She'd been so used to being bullied that she forget what having someone decent for company was like.

Like her mom would say sometimes, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."

"I don't mind." Lune finally said, extending a fist. Her smile turned wry, a near-imitation of the one her mom wore more than half the time. "As long as you don't use glue on me."

Before Lune could feel awkward standing there like a moron with her hand like that, Yang's fist bumped against hers.

"Obviously. We wouldn't want you getting in a _sticky_ situation."

The grin on Yang Xiao Long's face was that of someone who thought her pun was the best pun in the world.

* * *

 **A/N:** This might just be my longest chapter yet... and we're only, like, on the third one. To be honest, I thought of splitting this into two. But I decided against it for the sake of it feeling more complete. XD

I tried to finish this as soon as I could; my workload recently had increased, so in anticipation of the my busyness, I put this up so I could focus on them better. Stealth edits will be done in a future date, as per usual. Also, I'd respond to anonymous reviews if I could, but there's no option for that so all I can say is that, thanks, you guys.

Thanks to you reviewers, followers, and fave(-ers?), too, because I _swear_ I never had high expectations of my story to begin with.

But I must address this one thing about the soul duality, thanks to Lune's reincarnation: honestly, that idea's been mulled over in my mind. I already had a semblance for her to begin with, but I've yet to finalize everything. So eh, it's possible.

That's all, folks. Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"So, Miss Beryl, did you enjoy your nap?" Asked a voice which, in all honesty, was of the kind that made Lune think of raccoons crashing through a glass window. It was annoying, nasal, and it was definitely the last thing both her human and animal ears wanted to hear.

It was also her teacher's voice.

No wonder she felt like she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. The crone—who in actuality was only around her late twenties and only had the attitude of one—was the one currently handling this section. Right. It was coming back to her now. The bespectacled woman was the one who took delight in watching her only Faunus student squirm in every opportunity. In her mind, she was called Teacher Sadist. Sadie, for short.

Lune cracked her eyes open, lifting her head from the desk it had been resting on for the past thirty minutes, give or take. A bit of her drool had apparently pooled on the notebook she'd been using as a pillow, much to her dismay. That discovery would have made her let out a long sigh if she wasn't being stared at by everyone who owned a set of eyes.

On second thought… Lune sighed anyway. And yawned. Oh, she definitely yawned and stared back at her teacher with half-lidded eyes.

"Basic arithmetic lessons are soothing to the ears," Lune answered. _Soothing in a way that it always makes any student want to fall asleep instead of listening to this lesson of boringness._ "So yes, Teacher. I did."

That kind of disrespect would normally be enough to warrant a punishment, but then Lune was punished without doing anything, anyway. Being slated for classroom cleaning duty later on was proof of that, and to think! All she'd done was ask the teacher a question that made her appear like she was participating in class. Might as well have a legit reason to be punished for this time, though things with Mom and Dad might get hairy if the teacher sent them another report via scroll (which wasn't actually a _scroll_ , per se, but an electronic tablet that opened like one) that "Your daugther, Lune Beryl, has yet again aggravated one of her teachers to the point of resorting to disciplinary measures."

Lune could only play the I'm-unfairly-treated-as-a-Faunus card for so long, especially when she was starting to grow into an attitude of giving back whatever they dished at her. With limits. Whether that was an acceptable change or not, it was up in the air right now.

Anyway, the teacher, Sadie, did this thing with her nose that indicated that she was definitely incensed by Lune's off-hand remark. See, whenever Lune got on her nerves, she would also blink at her, open and close her mouth like so, and stare like the girl just sprouted another animal appendage. Then she would calm down, smile a bit, and pretend nothing happened. Which, contrary to what she thought, did not go unnoticed by the whole class. Lune found a bit of satisfaction in it every time.

"Then you're definitely staying for a talk after class," the teacher said in a forced, neutral tone, like she didn't just have an oh-my-god-you-did- _not_ moment seconds earlier. "And then some."

"Okay." Lune said. An I'm-not-really-all-that-bothered shrug would probably be too much at this point, so she decided against doing just that.

The teacher began droning on about adding or subtracting numbers, utilizing the ol' 'X has Y number of apples and was given another one by Z; how many apples does X have now?' question that was undoubtedly done to death. And seeing that the woman was now doing her level best to ignore her existence (she failed, if that leer was any indication), Lune stared down at the wet notebook page consisting of her messily-written timeline of future events for future reference. Future events that she would try not to meddle with, that is. She'd already been thrown off-course enough by the sudden friendship with Yang Xiao Long last week.

She thought what little she knew of the Butterfly Effect was inevitable, concerning her presence, but she might as well try to keep the changes to a minimum. So much for her wanting to _not_ carry this kind of baggage, but whatever. She supposed there were some merits to not stumbling about blindly. She'll just have to avoid thinking about what happens to this person or that. No pressure. Stupid effin' foreknowledge, though.

So far, she'd written down what she remembered, and _belatedly_ remembered, organizing them by volume. Volume 1 didn't have much to speak of other than the encounters she definitely shouldn't meddle with, like the Dust shop robbery (because Ruby needs to get to Beacon), Ruby's moment of badassery during the test that led to her leadership of Team RWBY, team what's-its-name bullying Jaune Arc which led to some character growth, and the Vytal Festival preparation wherein stuff happened and led to Blake Belladonna finally feeling a sense of belongingness with her teammates.

Then there was Volume 2, which, admittedly, probably had less chances of her getting involved because they were team-centric and she would—if she got to Beacon—be busy being with her own team doing whatever it was the froshies did. All she had to take note of here were the people she needed to be very, very wary of, like Cinder and company. No doubt about it; they'd end up knowing all there was to know about the Beacon students, but that didn't mean Lune couldn't tiptoe around them to lessen her risks of being screwed over. She wasn't letting their existence ruin her life.

And… oh, right, yeah, there was that Grimm invasion in the city too, but that only served to show how badass everyone was. Would _she_ end up fighting off Grimm, when that finally happened?

Lune suddenly felt like snorting. Fat chance, maybe. The most she'd probably do was flail around with whatever weapon she came up with. And that is if she even survived Signal Academy.

Anyway, lastly, there was the emotional roller coaster that was Volume 3. This one, being the most recent she'd remembered before dying as Amelie, was what she knew the best. And in turns, wished she didn't know about. Because, frankly, awesome as _that_ volume was, in her current situation she might want to unsee all of those in a heartbeat. Her heart would just break into a tiny million pieces and she didn't want to be bothered with picking them all up and putting them back together.

Poor Pyrrha. And Penny. Blake. _And Yang._

(God. She'd just befriended Yang sometime last week and managed not to feel sorry for her because of what she'll become. Only because the memory didn't come to her at once. And now that she had to remember _that_ again… amnesia was sounding appealing right now.)

Though, taking notes of certain plot points would not only help her fading memory, but it also _would_ help her prepare for the shitstorm that was to come. God, this meant she _had_ to be a Huntress.

 _Would I even have the power to save those people from their fates? Or at best, make sure they suffered less than they originally had?_ She wanted to tug at her hair just then, but considering how her differentness already sought enough attention, she refrained from doing so.

Saving those people would save even more people a load of sadness, but what if the salvation of one life meant the loss of another? The universe would always seek to keep itself on the track it had been running on. Or at least, that was the lesson her old videogames told her.

And who the hell was she to try and manipulate these events, anyway? She was no god. Just one random girl reincarnated into another body. Just one girl who knew what was to come. She knew her boundaries. Knew to keep away from the spotlight. Trying to push past the big red line would only get her in trouble.

 _On second thought, I don_ _'t want to think about this_. _Philosophy has never been my forte._ Lune had intentionally left that section of her timeline as brief as possible. Her life and her loved one's lives before anyone else, she decided. What will come, will come, and she would go with the flow, like her mom's namesake. The sun always shows up once the rainclouds have cleared.

Before she could proceed to rewrite her notes in a new, _drier_ page, however, something collided against the back of her head, knocking it slightly forward. Picking up the crumpled paper ball on the floor and spreading it out on her desk, her eyes suddenly caught the cleanly-written message that Aqua Grey had written to her. A part of her was jealous of his neater handwriting; hers resembled a chicken's if it could pick up a pencil and write.

 _Pay attention to the class, dummy._

Lune cautioned a glance to the boy behind her after the teacher wasn't looking her way. Aqua was listening and taking down notes, alright, and Lune had to remind herself that the kid was actually a flippin' genius when he wasn't busy resorting to petty pranking wars with her. And only her. He had one of the highest grades in class—second only to Lune's, who'd later decided against dumbing herself down so she could give every discriminatory person the middle finger by being better than them in academics.

Aqua was only a monster to her while being a delightful little boy to everyone else.

Yes, she'd spied on him once. He played well with the others. He was their best friend. But that wasn't the point.

She tore off a page of her notebook and scribbled down her next reply, passing it back to the kid. Her message said: _**Thanks for the concern, but I**_ _ **'ll be fine. :)**_

She received a reply seconds later, hearing his pencil scratch against the paper and feeling another paper ball hit her head.

 _Not concerned! You_ _'re distracting me from learning stuff._

 _ **Then tell the teacher you**_ _ **'re moving to another chair coz I'm annoying**_ _._ Lune wrote back. _**She always sides with you anyway**_ **.**

 _The classroom_ _'s full today, you bunny dummy. And it's 'cause, not coz._

 _ **Bunny dummy?**_

 _It_ _'s the best thing I can think of._

 _ **Work on your insults, Aqua.**_

 _Shut up, animal._

"I'm really mystified how you pass all your exams with flying colors while having poor etiquette in class, Beryl." The teacher interrupted Lune before she could finish her own retort. A quick glance at Aqua revealed the boy's desk clean of paper; only his notebook and pencil was there, neat and organized. Lune's desk looked like it was attacked by papery projectiles. Which it was.

How _surprising_.

"Teachers grade students on class performance anyway." At this point in time, Lune knew that defending herself was a futile attempt. Not when everyone seemed to be against her. All she could do was shrug.

"As if it was bad enough that you sleep more often now. What blatant disrespect," Sadie muttered under her breath, Lune managing to hear every word with supreme ease. Her sharp sense of hearing was definitely both a blessing and a curse, especially when she started hearing everyone mumble unsavory things about her while they thought she didn't catch on to their every word. Silly people.

 _But to be fair_ , Lune thought as she pretended to listen to her teacher's scolding. _I have a good reason why I feel like gluing myself to my bed all the time now: my dad_.

But she never got to completely recall what Vert Beryl had been doing with her, exactly, because just then, the teacher stopped glaring at her and looked away. She clapped her hands once, addressing the class.

"Alright, kids. Bring out a sheet of paper and hide your notebooks. We're having a little quiz right now on addition and subtraction!" She said. She looked meaningfully at Lune, the small smirk on her face recognizable only to the girl. Lune was casually indifferent to it. "You have Lune here to thank for that."

There were groans all around the classroom.

Later that day, Lune Beryl was the happy recipient of many glares, barbs, and crumpled papers.

Curiously enough, one of them contained a message that mockingly greeted her for celebrating her sixth birthday today.

(Which was kind of funny, because she turned six three weeks ago.)

* * *

"Lune? You've got—eww—a spitball in your hair." Yang later said with a look of disgust, making the aforementioned girl look up from the picture book she'd been viewing with little Ruby.

Ever since Lune was invited to visit the Xiao Long-slash-Rose residence several weeks ago and was given directions on how to get there, the girl had been visiting as often as she was allowed. She would be fetched from school by her Mom around two-thirty, reach Patch by four, and by four-thirty dropped off here with promises of being good. The rest of the afternoon would be spent talking or playing any games they could think of. If they weren't playing one of the board games Yang owned, they were playing Grimm versus Huntsmen. Lune often ended up being the Grimm, chased around the house by Yang and Ruby, whose role was painfully obvious. She would only stop being 'it' the moment she was killed (tagged) by the other two children.

One would think that a kid with the mentality of a nineteen-year-old would grow bored of such games, but no, not her. She felt like a kid and an adult at the same time, and oftentimes she preferred being a kid anyway.

So. Really. It was awesome to have something to look forward to every day. _Really_ look forward to, for once.

"What?" Lune reached for the small, squishy ball at the spot Yang pointed, pulling back her hand and making a face at what she'd just ended up looking at. "Eww, you're right." She flicked the offending object away at once, careful not to send it flying towards the three-year-old beside her.

"Let me guess," Yang said, her lilac eyes unashamedly meeting hers. "Your bullies. Again."

Lune shrugged. "Yep. Math quiz for everyone 'cause I fell asleep in class."

Lune hadn't really intended the girl to know all about the bullying, to be honest. Not because she didn't want Yang to bother with her or get too close, but because she had thought she had it all under control. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal; the life of a Faunus was difficult by default. She would survive, and all she needed to do was _focus_ on her graduation day. The bullying would be over before she knew it. Freedom at last.

But after that one particularly rough day last-last week when Yang asked how things went on her side, the genuine concern overwhelmed Lune to the point that the words just tumbled right out of the Faunus' mouth.

She had to admit, there was some crying mixed in with the ranting, showing that for all her open mind, the discrimination still managed to nick bits and pieces of her armor. But it was a good cry, and after that she was good to go for the next couple months. Or years. (Please God, let her non-crying streak last for years.) So long as her parents didn't find out how bad it really was for her, she was fine. She was determined to finish what she'd started.

But god, how she _missed_ having friends.

She'd almost forgotten what it was like to have someone she could share her problems with. Heck, she didn't realize how lonely her life was until the warm feeling of friendship—cheesy as _that_ sounded—filled her to the brim and left her craving for more.

When was the last time anyone other than her parents appreciated her company? When was the last time she even had _any_ social life?

Lune had decided she did _not_ want to be friendless again. The loner life was not for her.

So, whenever she opened her own house's door to find a sunny Yang and a cute Ruby at her doorstep, with either their Daddy Taiyang or Uncle Qrow standing behind them, the smile on her face was practically heartbreaking to see. Because, true to Yang's word, they also visited her when she wasn't visiting them. And _god_ she'd never been so happy.

River practically teared up at the thought of her little girl finally having some people she could consider as friends, too, knowing that Lune was only soldiering on in her civilian school without making so much as an acquaintance. The woman was in Super Mom mode whenever the two kids came for a visit.

And judging from the looks on Yang and Ruby's faces whenever they were offered a plate of cookies or waffles, the two appreciated the warm treatment. Yang wasn't even bothered whenever River's way of speaking took a turn for the sarcastic. The blonde actually found it pretty funny. She even wanted to take _notes_.

While there was no replacing the gap that Summer Rose left with Yang's family after she'd presumably died on a mission, River Beryl seemed to be doing a good job filling even just one-fourths of it. It made Lune think that her death as Amelie was worth it since it meant all these stuff happening. It meant that somehow, she was returning a favor to the world that granted her a second chance. Even if that world was dangerous as hell.

"You know, you really should do something about those jerks. Just because you're a Faunus, that doesn't mean they get a free pass for bullying you." Yang then said. She crossed her arms from where she'd been sitting cross-legged. "If I were in your shoes, I'd kick their butts."

"I'd pay you with candies to do just that." Lune said dryly.

"I'd do it for free." Yang easily countered. The two exchanged amused grins before she grew serious again. "Come on, don't you think it's unfair? You might have a pair of rabbit ears, but you're still a kid like me. You enjoy my crappy board games and everything." That got a snort from Lune. "You can't just spend the rest of your school life letting them win all the time."

Leave it to a fellow six-year-old to give sage advice. Admittedly, she was content in pranking someone if the bullying was too much (example: Aqua), but most of the time? She did let things slide. The teachers punishing her. Her classmates' taunts. The dirty looks. She was a half-glass-full kind of person—she liked to believe—so she would always think that it would get better (she was going to be a Huntress so things _did_ get better, right?), but sometimes… Gah. For all her adult mindset, she did want to fight back.

But since when was life ever easy, anyway? It didn't mean the bullying would stop once she'd actually tried retaliating. The bullying might just get even worse because they finally got what they wanted, and the satisfaction of seeing someone snap and admit their words struck true would be all too sweet. She wasn't giving the brats that.

And then there was her stubbornness in finishing what she'd started… which was ironic, because she was borderline lazy by nature.

"Trust me, Yang, I'll be fine. It's only four more years before I graduate. I can handle it." She smiled the foxy smile her dad was practically known for, though her insides twisted at the half-truth. "I get my victories where I could; you should see their faces whenever I had the highest grades in class. And once I get into Signal Academy anyway, they're gonna have to think twice before they tried bullying me again. By then, I'll know how to kick their butts in the most epic. Way. Possible."

"I guess so." Yang said, though she was undoubtedly unconvinced.

But a certain word sparked her interest, and her eyes widened as it finally registered in her mind. "Wait a minute. So you want to be a Huntress, too?" Yang immediately asked. Before Lune could even answer, the girl squealed and tackle-hugged her. Lune could hear Ruby laughing in the background. "Because that's awesome! So do I. I could see it now: you. And me. In Signal. _Together_. That would be super-duper fun and we'd get to start on our chosen paths with a _Yang._ _"_ She said, drawing back from a stunned Lune with a wide, toothy grin. _"_ Then when Ruby's old enough, she could join in on our team, too. She really wants to become a Huntress like Mom."

Lune glanced at the red-haired kid, who was currently looking at a picture of a Grimm and a Huntsman with fascination and starry eyes. Yang moved to ruffle Ruby's hair affectionately. She earned a bright grin in return. The siblings were too adorable for words.

"I guess that means your dad's training you for Signal, too?" Lune asked, straightening herself from where she was sprawled on seconds ago.

"That's right," Yang said proudly. "Ever since he's temporarily pulled out of his teaching career in Signal and spent more time with us after… you know, _that_ , we've been doing pretty well. Dad says my punches are getting stronger and stronger." Yang demonstrated a punch in the air for emphasis. Grinning, she then said, "So how about you? How's your own training coming along? I know your dad's a Huntsman too."

"Urk," was the most appropriate response that Lune could think of. It was so eloquent she wanted to cry.

"...That bad, then?"

Lune quickly shook her head in disagreement and waved her hands around her. "No. N-no. It's not really bad-bad. It's just… well… my dad's way of teaching is kinda… different." She finished lamely, her hand gestures weak and floppy.

"Different?" Yang repeated in puzzlement. "I dunno, wouldn't different be a good thing? I've been told we're going to be developing our own fighting styles someday. Something about… oh! Right. Something about that being a part of our identity. I saw some tournaments on TV, and nobody fights the same way."

"I wish that was the case." Lune practically whined.

Ruby looked up at the girl with wide, curious eyes, asking in her simplest way—she didn't have the best vocabulary yet—if something's wrong. The Faunus was quick to smile sheepishly and reassure the kid that everything was fine and she should get back to her picture book. Ruby was getting to the best part, after all, and she shouldn't miss the picture with the Huntsman facing off a Beowolf. It was the battle of epic proportions.

"'Kay!" Ruby chirped, smiling at Lune. With the red-haired girl distracted once more, Lune returned her attention to Yang.

"In fact…" Lune began with a gulp. " _This_ is what usually happens…"

Lune proceeded to tell Yang (and Ruby) about the so-dubbed Beryl Training Regime. In fact, she might as well be telling a horror story around a campfire while a clock somewhere struck midnight. By the time Lune's mom came back to fetch her, there was a haunted look in her green eyes.

In Lune's ideal world, nothing was scarier than the prospect of sacrificing sleep for an early wake-up call. And recently, of the Beryl Training Regime.

* * *

The horror story was revived anew.

"Rise and shine, sweetie! The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming… and it's another new day for the Beryl Training Regime!"

Lune hissed like an angry cat the moment the light switch was flipped on and her blanket was snatched mercilessly away, leaving her to curl up into a ball and shiver from the cold. Her eyes remain stubbornly shut.

Maybe she was just dreaming, she thought as the silence reigned once more. Yeah, this was all a bad dream and Dad was still sleeping with Mom. No, not in _that_ way—on second thought, hopefully in that way because she'd very much appreciate an additional hour of sleep and when two people get going, they _really_ get going.

"Aww, don't be like that. This is for your own good, you know!" Her dad said. It was impossible to imagine his face sporting anything else but a wide, toothy grin. No doubt his hands, curled into fists, were resting on his hips, too. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I've already let you sleep in long enough."

Nope. Not a dream. Lune could have sworn she heard her hopes crash and burn. She was pretty sure the person mentally screaming was her. Screaming _no_ , Darth Vader style.

"It's five-thirty in the morning," Lune whined, blindly grabbing for her pillow and burying her head underneath it. She didn't have to look at a clock; she knew deep in her heart that it was five-thirty—okay, no, she didn't, but she was _always_ roused after five, ever since she'd been to Signal and her dad made a habit of conditioning her body every. Single. Morning.

"And you get to see the sun rise with me! Come onnnn, what better way to start the day with?"

"It's snowing."

"Not for long. The weather channel said that the sun's shining bright sometime later."

"It's cold."

"Getting used to the cold builds character!"

"Mom's gonna flip every table in the universe if I catch frostbite."

"She's not as scary as you think she is, sweetie."

"Sunday of last autumn begs to differ, Daddy."

Lune didn't receive a retort for that one. There was _never_ a retort for that one. Instead, her pillow was ruthlessly snatched away from her too, making everything as unbearable as the day she was born. Well, minus the whole I-can't-make-sense-of-everything part. There was no trumping that. She'd rather not find out if there was anything far worse. She'll probably die an ugly death by then.

 _But if that meant getting cremated and having my ashes sprinkled over Aqua_ _…_

"Yeah, no, kiddo. That card only works once. Better luck next time," his last words were in a singsong voice, and… that was that.

Lune lost the battle she thought she could win even once.

Several moments later, Lune was grudgingly doing some stretching exercises up on the attic with her dad. It didn't really take much effort for the man to clean up the place and transform it into a makeshift training room; there were never that many boxes of old belongings to begin with. The attic did require regular sweeping, though, because when left alone, a thin layer of dust covered the floor. And if she inhaled enough, Lune would sneeze like crazy.

She hated having a runny nose.

And, while it was a huge ol' positive that he decided against braving the snow outside—even though it was, to her dismay, falling very, very lightly and it meant snowball fights—she was never going to get used to getting up at such an ungodly hour.

Only crazy people woke up at five in the freaking morning. Crazy people who managed to greet the day with a smile. People who... who _actually_ liked doing that from Sunday to Saturday. Really, who did that? And what's wrong with them?

"See, Lune? Don't you feel a lot more flexible than before?" Dad later said as Lune effortlessly reached for her toes without bending her legs. "Before you know it, you'll be doing cartwheels and back flips like crazy!"

She had to admit, it _was_ getting easier to do this as time passed. She wasn't about to perform some rad moves anytime soon, moves that would make a gymnast cry in jealousy, but there was something about this body of hers she could definitely appreciate.

Maybe it had something to do with her parents' genes resulting to a body that made her feel she was _born_ to be physically fit. Maybe it had something to do with being a Faunus. Heck, maybe starting out early on exercises like these helped a ton. Whichever it was, her current body was surprisingly easier to condition than her last one.

Then again, she ate more vegetables than meat. There was that.

Lune straightened up, did a few other stretches, and looked expectantly at Dad. Seeing her done, he pressed his scroll's screen and stopped the music that had been playing for the past thirty minutes. Music that, by the way, seemed to be catering more to _his_ tastes than hers. Shame; a good rock song would get her going.

"Can I go back to sleep now?" Lune yawned for emphasis despite feeling twice as awake as before.

Her dad stared at her. Then he smiled. It was the kind that didn't make her grow warm and fuzzy on the inside. It was the kind that made her wonder if a hailstorm was coming. "You know what's about to come next. Ready to improve your reflexes?"

A look of horror immediately crossed Lune's face and the girl took a step back, fingers forming an X. "No. No no no no. Maybe if you didn't throw so many balls at once in that Huntsman-y way you did, with the flipping and twirling and everything, but yeah… no." She shook her head and felt her ears swish with the movement. "Daddy, I can't keep up! You said I move way quicker than humans, but I'm too slow for you."

She had never been pelted with so many balls in so little time. It was like playing dodge ball, only harsher and faster-paced, and did she mention the balls her dad threw hit like a truck? On rocket boosters? Packed with C4? She had a fear of round things for a week. A _week_. And Aqua capitalized on that.

Her rabbit reflexes didn't do her any good because Dad was always _faster_.

"I admit, maybe the last time was a liiiiittle too extreme," Dad said sheepishly, taking one step closer. "But this time… I think you'll like what I have in mind."

"Mom nearly exploded when she saw the bruises. It didn't hurt me much, but my skin didn't like those balls," Lune said bluntly, her eyes wary and her body attentive. It was true. In fact, River prevented her from doing anything beyond stretches for three days. The woman was tempted to say _forever_ , but everyone knew that couldn't be possible.

Lune thought it would be pretty darned awesome if her Aura was activated so she stopped getting sprains and bruises. But then it took training and willpower before she could even accomplish that. Training that she was already whining about, and willpower that she wasn't sure existed or not. Oh huzzah, lack of progress. Dad could probably help her activate it, but then he'd likened her Aura to a prize: until Lune's physical performance was Signal Academy-ready, no Aura for her.

"Then will you trust me if I said we're going out of the house for some harmless snowball fight? Let's put a little fun on the exercise this time."

Lune paused. And reconsidered.

Snowball fight.

 _Snowball fight_.

Vert Beryl was already looking like he already won some sort of internal war.

Lune gave a resigned shrug and let her inner kid take over. She stared up at her dad's face. "Okay, _fine_ , but if it's anything like the last time, I'm gonna sleep beside Mom and _you_ _'re_ gonna have to deal with her if you want me to get up early in the morning."

River Beryl was not a morning person. This was a fact, and both Lune and her dad were witness to her, um, _tantrums_ if she was given even the slightest nudge away from her precious sleep. Maybe that was why Lune liked to sleep in, herself. Other than the fact that she was utterly spoiled as an infant, maybe the preference was genetic. She really needed to work on her knowledge of science.

"Deal." Dad said, grinning.

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear."

* * *

Lune Beryl awoke to the sensation of something stubby poking her cheek, and confusion was the first thing that dominated her senses. What happened? Where's the fire? Did anyone _die_? She cracked her eyes open—

And she saw her least favorite person in the world.

"I'm awake," Lune mumbled to Aqua, belatedly realizing that the reason why she felt so uncomfortable and weirdly stiff was because her head was stuck to her desk for too long. Longer than usual, because normally, the teacher would notice her dozing off and she'd either be jolted awake by a volunteer classmate or her teacher did the waking. She didn't think rulers could make that kind of noise.

She was surprised to discover that she'd actually been ignored for an entire period.

Also, Dad's snowball fight earlier in the morning felt more like a war between life and death.

"Y'know, I pick on you every day, but even _I_ start to notice your sleeping habits are getting worse and worse. Even though you still ace everything and I really, _really_ wonder how you could do that." Aqua said. He would have sounded concerned... and awed... if it weren't for his next choice of words. "Don't tell me some animal stuff's keeping you up at night, whatever it is you Faunus do during that time."

The corner of Lune's lips twitched as she picked up her rucksack from beside her chair, refusing to give the boy a reply. She wasn't a decent conversationalist until she was awake for a couple more minutes. The rabbit faunus reached for her notebook so she could close it shut and stuff it inside her bag, but something seemed to have caught Aqua's eye, and the thing was snatched before she could become aware of it. She could only level a half-sleepy glare at the boy who flipped through several pages and stopped on one particular page that made her cheeks grow warm.

"Future Huntress outfit…" Aqua read from the page, his eyes gazing at the drawing Lune had remade at some point in the past. "You're gonna become one of them?"

In hindsight, better _that_ page than her timeline page. She would have to bullshit her way out of the latter. She could've sworn her heart stopped for a second.

"Yep," she finally said, snatching back her notebook and shoving it inside her bag. Somehow Yang's words echoed in her mind. "And you're not gonna stop me, Aqua. You can bully me all you want, I've got my mind set on this."

For a moment, something seemed to have clicked in Aqua's mind. If she had to warrant a guess, he managed to connect the dots between her constant siestas and the drawing he discovered. Not surprising, given his intellect. He was looking at her differently now, but his eyes didn't reflect respect. It didn't reflect anything she knew of. She could use all the abstract nouns she could think of, and she still wouldn't be able to put a finger on the peculiar way he was regarding her.

But just like any moments, it was gone as soon as it came. Aqua smirked. "Good luck then, sleepyhead. I doubt you'll even get far, what with that kind of attitude you already have in class. I guess that means I'll have another thing to work at, 'cause I don't want no Faunus being better at the one thing I plan to be the best at."

He didn't even give her a second to retort, that jerk. The boy turned away and left the classroom with his own backpack strapped over one shoulder.

And maybe her mind was slow in processing information right now, because it wasn't until later—en route to the Beryl residence—that Lune realized what Aqua's words were implying.

"You okay, kiddo? Need a break?" Her mom beside her asked in concern, noticing Lune's sudden stop from her walk. "I know your dad's been working you to the bone and all… so honestly, we can take a breather if you want."

"Eh?" Lune blinked. She quickly shook her head and offered a strained smile. "I'm fine, Mom. Dad _does_ need to ease up on the training, though. I'm only six—I'm not getting to Signal until I'm ten."

"Actually, depending on your qualifications, you can get enrolled there earlier." River corrected, and she grinned in amusement at Lune's incredulous stare. "I mean it. For once, I'm actually dead serious. No combat school's about to turn away a prodigy, you see; Remnant needs all the help it can get in fighting the Grimm, remember. And that means making exceptions to the rule if they have to." She said. She seemed to have this faraway look in her eyes before she continued. "They've done it before. Think of it as something like… your school. If you're smart enough, you get moved ahead. And getting moved ahead means getting out of school earlier than normal."

The thought of doing so well in class was an appealing thought, but she bet no teacher was willing to put a Faunus like her in an advanced subject. Or god forbid, let her graduate _early_.

"How do you know all that, Mom?" _It_ _'s not in the books_ , Lune meant to say. Mom might just be employing some common sense, but her tone of voice implied otherwise. And wasn't her mom too civilian to be privy to information like combat school evaluations? On the other hand, Dad could only know so much.

The smile on the woman's face was a secretive one. "Oh, you know, I just do."

Odd.

"...Oh. Okay." Lune decided to leave it at that.

But the implication from her words was enough to send her mind reeling alongside the revelation about Aqua.

For someone who wasn't a Huntress, her mom sure knew a lot. Okay, she might be thinking too much on this, the way she'd do so on supposedly simple things, but something told her there was way more to River Beryl than meets the eye.

And Aqua… crap, so the kid was planning on being a Huntsman too. Considering how he already knew the one thing Lune wasn't making apparent to the class, she suddenly thought that the remaining four years of civilian school was going to drag on longer than she'd thought. What if he told the entire class of her decided path and everyone tried their best to shoot her down as brutally as possible?

 _Ugggghhh_ , was the most accurate response Lune could think on that.

But life was never really so predictable, so eh, really, who knew what was going to happen in the course of four years?

* * *

 **A/N: Okayyy, so I managed to write this chapter up quickly because I managed to finish a thesis chapter of mine fast enough to make time for everything else. My usual, self-appointed deadline is two weeks from the last update, but yay, fast update! I basically knew how I wanted to start this one and things took a life of their own from there. It's not the most exciting chapter out there, but I wanted to do some showing, not telling.  
**

 **Also, yeah, expect a time skip soon, if not next chapter. I'm almost done with the civilian academy portion of Lune's life. On another note, I like learning how to add layers to characters. If it's not polished or well-executed as I've hoped, my inexperience would be the reason. XP**

 **Please feel free to follow, fave, or review like usual! I appreciate the support you guys are giving me, vocal or not. It makes some depressing days so much better. Life does get a bit rough on me from time to time too, haha.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

She could have sworn this was all a dream. But after a hard pinch of her cheek, no, it wasn't.

For the first time in her life's history, everyone—including her—was actually in some sort of unity as each and every students' eyes were glued to the clock at the front of the classroom. Nobody was paying attention to her. They were doing nothing but waiting for that one big hand to finally rest on the number twelve and make official of _their last day in civilian school_.

Things were tense. Things were quiet.

Well, almost quiet, anyway, because the rambling teacher up front was still stubbornly trying to pretend the atmosphere wasn't heavy with anticipation. She was still trying to finish the congratulatory speech she had for the class, and for one moment, Lune could have sworn she heard mentions of pancakes. Pancakes that unsuccessfully snagged her classmates' attention (but it certainly got hers; she actually felt disappointed that no plate of pancakes appeared in front of her desk) and simply made the teacher more awkward as her newest attempt failed.

 _Tick, tock, tick_ _…_

God. Time really did fly like an Atlesian aircraft when she'd become distracted with training and civilian schooling. For one moment, Lune had been nothing but a chubby five-year-old determined to endure five years of school, finding positives from the negatives (sort of?), and in general just trying to channel her inner Amelie so she could regard all the brats around her with understanding... and not murder them in their sleep for being discriminatory lumps of turd.

And for another… well. Lune was now a slim, physically healthy ten-year-old who was actually looking forward to leaving this dump for good so she could get enrolled at Signal Academy.

Five years. She'd just spent five years on Remnant readying for that day.

Now that she could put this whole thing behind her, she could totally see herself becoming a warrior more clearly. She'd made peace with becoming a future Huntress, she guessed. Wouldn't want all those training she had over the years to result to nothing. She felt like she was at peak condition, and despite her constant complaints of her body aching from the strenuous exercises—which she _also_ complained of, she appreciated the perks that came with turning herself into a living weapon. There was just something _that_ badass about it.

She had no fantasies of being completely bully-free there, of course. Every place had its own basket of bad apples. But when she had to think about it, like _really_ think about it, what was not to like at being enrolled in a combat school? Sure, she was pretty much going to end up dedicating the rest of her life to fighting the Grimm, forever risking her personal safety to uphold the peace of this world, maybe end up as someone of great renown so she could do something about the Faunus discrimination and, selfish as it sounded, tremendously increase her survivability here. Especially when she knew what was to come.

But… _come on_. Combat school. Combat school! As an Earth girl turned Remnant, this was a wholly different kind of lifestyle compared to her previous one. It was exciting.

After all, how often did one experience getting graded for her ability to kick some butt in the most over-the-top way possible? It certainly beat being graded on how well she could answer a mathematical problem.

(Though, she wasn't about to deny that her old world was safer and stabler. The slightest tip in whatever balance Remnant had could send all four kingdoms divided against each other. Which will happen, now that she thought about it.)

 _Tick, tock, tick_.

Lune glanced up at the clock again, giving her teacher a brief respite from her half-interested stare. Five more minutes. She tore a page from her notebook and scribbled a note, passing it to Aqua beside her. Normally, she wouldn't even consider doing this, but other than the fact that she felt too giddy to care about his reaction, the boy was surprisingly more diplomatic in paper.

 _ **You ready for the next step?**_

After reading the message, the look the blue-haired kid gave her was a peculiar one, lacking of his usual scorn and smirk. It made her happy expression crack in places. Made her stomach twist in discomfort. In fact… dare she say it, but the boy looked more deflated than excited.

That was not an Aqua thing at all.

He should have been over the moon because he wasn't going to see her face ever again. He should be relieved that no "lesser being" was going to rival him anymore. But… he wasn't.

"You okay?" She decided to ask in a soft voice, tilting her head at him.

Lune didn't know why the hell she was even concerned, but she felt the feeling tug at her on the inside, insisting on her acknowledging its existence.

It didn't make sense; Aqua had been a total jerk to her for the past five years. He didn't physically beat her, only once when Lune retaliated against him for the first time, but he'd gotten her in trouble so often she'd lost count. He'd said mean things to her, things that would have sent a normal girl crying all day and refusing to come to class for days. Heck, she would have had self-esteem problems if she wasn't clinging onto Amelie's mindset the way a drowning man would a rock. But she felt what she felt.

The surprise on Aqua's face definitely implied he was wondering the same thing.

"Hey, if I bother you for not paying attention during our lessons, you end up bothering me by being all mopey like that," Lune said, taking that as her reasoning and calling it a day. "You've been quiet today."

"Uh…"

 _Then again_ , she thought as Aqua struggled to find the right words to say. _There were days when he and I were almost civil to each other. Civil enough to make me wonder if he really is as bad as he_ _'s making himself out to be._

She remembered being forced into a pairing with Aqua for an exercise once. Two years ago, kind of, and it had been one helluva day. It was during… science class, right, and the advanced question they had to answer needed to be looked up on the books they owned. No one was allowed to work on it alone because today's lesson also involved collaboration, and the teacher had said that the pair that made the best answer would be rewarded with an exemption on the next quiz. Turning the atmosphere competitive tended to make the students actually learn something at the end of the day.

And learn they did. While the two had initially tried to solve it with as little communication as possible, they eventually realized that they were heading nowhere and, whatever animosity they had towards each other, it needed to stop. Just for today.

They formed a truce, basically. There were handshakes and everything. It was all thanks to their kinda-sorta mutual interest in the reward; Aqua wanted that quiz exemption and Lune thought it was too bothersome to stay awake doing a quiz she could ace without effort (thank _you_ , Amelie). She could even recall how her reason had prompted a nasty glare from the dark-eyed kid, once voiced, and in the end the boy said nothing and moved on to discussing the question. And Lune had to admit, the snark-to-snark combat they had after their debate on an answer they've found had been pretty fun. Fun enough to make her wonder if they would've been good friends if she wasn't a Faunus.

Anyway, after that, the teacher had announced at the end of the class that she and Aqua had the best answer and was rewarded appropriately. They had even high-fived.

"I'm not mopey," Aqua finally answered, sending Lune's thoughts back to the present. His tone of voice was unconvincing, and his expression equally so.

"You so are," Lune said.

"Just—" But before Aqua could even finish his sentence, the clock finally struck two in the afternoon and the electronic bell began ringing in the hallways. It oddly reminded Lune of doorbells.

Cheers then erupted from all the students who heard it, and before Lune could even move, her classmates had already stood up and eagerly made their way out of the classroom with happy goodbyes said to the flustered teacher. It took at least five minutes before the room finally grew quiet again; Lune and Aqua were the ones left behind, still seated on their chairs and staring at each other.

"Well, I don't know about you kids, b-but I think I'll go on ahead now." The teacher said, picking up her bag and a small stack of papers. She'd also unknowingly broken their eye contact. "If you feel like cleaning the room for the last time, though… please, do so. Otherwise, the janitor will be here shortly. S-see you both on graduation day!"

And that was that. Lune didn't know what to make of the genuinely sweet smile flashed her—and Aqua's—way as the adult left the room, too. She wasn't exactly the first person anyone would even _smile_ at…

Wow. That sounded a bit depressing.

She shook her head at the glass door that slid shut before turning her head back to Aqua. "You were saying?"

Nope, no immediate response. He packed his belongings, careful to put them all neatly in his bag, and after sighing, _that_ was when he finally looked at her.

"You actually care?"

Lune shrugged. "Believe me, I'm pretty darned surprised myself. You're not exactly my favorite person either, but I know for a fact you're not a complete jerk."

"Right. I guess… after that science activity, you're not so bad yourself," Aqua slowly allowed. He almost looked like he regretted saying that. Almost. "For a Faunus. Doesn't mean I'm about to start _liking_ you, or hell, apologize for picking on you, but… there we go."

"Fine by me." Lune said, slumping back on her chair and crossing her arms. "Let's call this a truce. Once we're out of here, this didn't happen. So come on, out with it."

Aqua looked at her strangely before shrugging like he didn't care. It was totally obvious how he was trying not to make it seem like nothing was _that_ wrong.

"I'm moving."

Lune blinked. But before the sudden rush of questions could overwhelm her, she discreetly pinched her arm, felt the pang, and composed herself. She also might have fixed her uniform a bit.

"Oh." She finally said. "Where?"

"Mistral." Aqua answered. Clearly, the scowl on his face meant he wasn't on board with the decision his parents made for him. Wait, but if he was moving away, and he'd said in the past that he was aiming to become a Huntsman— "Mom wants us to go back there. Not because that's actually where I'm born, but I've got a cousin there who… lost her parents recently." At Lune's shocked but questioning expression, he added, "Grimm attack. She's the only survivor. She's still pretty young, so Mom wants to take her in before she ends up in an orphanage. A family friend's looking after her for now."

That was… whoa.

"God, Aqua, I mean it when I say I'm sorry to hear that." Lune quietly said, all traces of whatever lack of seriousness she previously had going down the drain. "It's put a dent on your plans on being a Huntsman, huh? It's for a good reason, but you still didn't want to move."

"Nope. Beacon Academy's, like, my dream Huntsman academy. Haven Academy isn't said to be all that bad, but I've also been in Vale all my life. I like it here, okay? And I've got my mind set on this. But… I guess we all can't have nice things." Aqua said. His tone of voice was a bitter one. He stared at the ceiling, sighing. "Besides, like you said, it's for a good reason anyway. I'm just being a brat."

"Au contraire, you're just understandably upset. It happens when a plan gets run over by a truck." Lune countered. She was all too familiar with the feeling. "What's your dad say about this whole thing? I mean, you haven't mentioned him at all… just something I've noticed all these years."

…Crap. Wrong question.

For one moment, Aqua didn't know what to say to her. If there were any adjectives to describe the look in his face, it wasn't coming to her at the moment. Maybe there might not even be a suitable one found in a dictionary. Lune could at least be perceptive enough to know what that reaction meant, but… that couldn't be the reason. Right? Because that was just making her insides do an uncomfortable twist.

"If he's still around, he'll probably ask Mom's friend to take the kid to here rather than us going to her. And by around, I meant alive." Aqua said. The casualness in his tone sounded far too fake to actually hide what he really felt about it.

 _I asked the wrong question_. Lune suddenly felt even worse, especially after Aqua flashed her an empty smirk and stood up.

"You know what, I'm going to stop there before I forget we had a truce. See you someday. Or never."

"Wait." Lune quickly said, shooting up from her seat. She got a hold of the boy's shoulder before he could take a couple steps forward. While Aqua immediately shrugged away from her touch, he didn't make an exit just yet. "I'm not even sure where to begin after that boatload of information, and okay, now I legit feel bad bringing it up. Sorry. But at least stay to hear this: Think positive. We've got at least seven years to change things. So don't think just yet that you're going to be stuck in Mistral forever." Lune told him, pausing to breathe.

She offered him a smile and continued where she'd left off. " _So_ , if Beacon's really where you want to do your Huntsman training—and if you really want to come back here—you'll find a way to accomplish that. You're smart. I know you can do it." Then she smirked. It was a half-hearted one, but it should get the desired effect. "Besides, you're not about to let a _Faunus_ become better than you, are you?"

Surprise. That was the best way she could describe the kid right now. He blinked once, twice, and somehow, he calmed down just a bit. His posture visibly relaxed.

"You're really weird, you know that?" Aqua told her. "Here I thought you'd be happy I won't be around anymore. But… whatever. I'll think on it."

The smile he gave her could almost be considered friendly. Almost, because he approached her and gave one of her rabbit ears a tug before he turned away again.

"I'll let that slide." Lune said, gingerly rubbing the now-aching appendage.

"Great. That's for old times' sake."

Then he left. Just like that.

All Lune could do as she stared at his retreating back was bid the boy a wordless goodbye. For now. As she later packed her own things, arranged the chairs (and received yet another smile from the janitor that came in to clean; what was up with today?), and left the classroom, she wondered if— _when_ _—_ she was ever going to see the kid again.

* * *

Her graduation day had come and gone, and to be honest, it wasn't really something Lune thought to be extremely memorable. Probably because it was a been-there-done-that kind of scenario, or probably because her mind kept coming back to the thought of her first day at Signal coming closer and closer. And to be fair about the former, the graduation did go on as she'd envisioned it: there were speeches, there were special awards she predictably didn't receive (but she did get recognized for her "academic excellence" once), and at the end of the day, she had a nice-looking certificate that she could stick to a wall in her room.

And then there was dinner in a decent restaurant that also catered to the Faunus.

Like she'd said: predictable.

After that, the days and weeks once again sped by her in a blur, pretty much, with her alternating her free time between training and socializing. There wasn't really much to do in Patch other than that, not when all the excitement and other various activities were in the city of Vale itself. Not that she was saying things were boring in this cozy, peaceful island, but a part of her did miss the city life and the kind of unpredictability it brought alongside it. And, okay, she might have been alive in Remnant for ten years now, but she still had the occasional moment when she just… missed being Amelie.

No way was she going down a nostalgia trip this time, though. Because right now she was busy doing… busy doing…

What was she doing at the moment again?

Lune shook her head and let her mind return to the present. Oh, right. She was currently inside her room, standing in front of the calendar with a marker on her left hand. She'd been counting down the days before her first day at Signal came, crossing out each day that passed and, whoa, she was actually one week away from the big, big day. How did she not notice that first?

The thought sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach, and the familiar, nervous feeling of spending day one in different environment came back in full force. She always managed to put a lid on it whenever she was around people, but considering how she was alone right now… Yeah, she suddenly couldn't stay still and she kept shifting her weight from one foot to another.

Anyway. There were still a few things she needed to get accomplished before she started attending Signal, and the very reminder had Lune glancing at her dog-eared notebook on her study desk in interest. She'd refined her idea of her combat outfit over the years, in turn actually improving her drawing skills to the point that they were almost good, so other than the need to get the clothes commissioned in Vale (or just, you know, get some combat-appropriate clothes in general... for now), she also needed a new set of pens and another notebook. And maybe another bag, considering how old her current one was.

Her thoughts suddenly shifting to money, Lune moved towards her backpack by the foot of her bed, shoved her hand inside it and pulled out a thin, black wallet. As she counted the amount of Lien she had saved over the years, thanks to her annual birthday money, she still couldn't help but be in a bit of awe at how the currency here came in the form of plastic cards with magnetic reader strips on the back and a single notation on the front. No paper bills.

Back to the money topic, though, Lune figured she had more than enough cash to get what she needed, and all she needed to do now was get someone to accompany her to Vale.

 _And I know just the person_. _Well, the person_ other _than the other person I have in mind_.

Placing the wallet on top of her bed, Lune then moved on to grabbing the scroll lying on the bedside drawer. The sleek, black thing was her tenth birthday gift, actually, something her dad got her after doing a few Huntsman missions out in the field. "You might as well have something to use in case of emergencies, kiddo, now that you're going to be spending more time in Signal than at home," He'd said.

She pulled the semi-transparent tablet open, opened the contacts list with a few touch commands, and dialed Yang's number.

Ring… ring… oh, there we go.

"Oh, hey, Lune, what's up?" Yang said from the other side. Judging from the weird, though musical background noise, Lune must've called while either Yang or Ruby was playing a video game.

"The sky, usually." She answered, a wry smile in place. That resulted to an amused snort from the other side. Lune plopped down on the mattress. "Right now, though, nothing much. I was just thinking… how do you feel about heading to Vale later in the afternoon? With a chaperon, obviously."

"Vale? What are you going to do there?"

"Eh, nothing too serious. Just getting some school supplies and maybe a new set of clothes for Signal." Lune said. She would have shrugged, but she realized the action was pretty pointless since she was the only one in the room. She blushed slightly at the realization. "I mean, yeah, we have our regular uniforms, but we need something decent for our future combat practices, right? I might as well be prepared. _You_ probably have no problems on that department since your clothes are all good for combat, but mine are… most likely to tear faster than you can say, 'Kill the Grimm!'"

"You're not Lune if you're actually unprepared for something, alright," Yang answered cheerfully after a brief laugh. "Aaaaand, as much as I'd _love_ to do some shopping with you, I can't today."

"Training, or keeping Ruby company?"

"A bit of both, actually. Dad's out on an errand, Uncle Qrow's probably out somewhere having a drink—I _think_ I found one of his bottles in the kitchen again, and no, I'm not touching it!—and I'm pretty much home alone with Ruby right now. Sorry, Lune, but we've been told to stay put today." Yang explained.

Lune had to admit, she did feel a bit disappointed. She didn't get the opportunity to really feel the emotion, though, not when Ruby suddenly cut in.

"We'll totally come with you next time, though! Oh, and hi to you too, Lune!" Ruby said, her voice loud over the speaker. Lune heard a faint _Hey!_ in the background. "But if it's not too much… maybe you can get me one of those Weapons magazines in the stores there? Because I heard the new issue's out and I _have_ to get it soon!"

Lune easily imagined Yang snatching back the scroll as she heard her voice next. "Sorry about that. You know Ruby, being a dork with weapons since forever. It's really cute—and deny all you want, Ruby, but it is!" Yang had directed that particular line towards her sister. Fortunately, the next one was to Lune's. "But if you don't mind, doing that would actually be pretty great. I'll pay you back when you come visit!"

The white-haired girl did a silent count of her money and decided that a little dent in her savings at the cost of a happy Ruby wouldn't be such a bad idea. The magazine wasn't really that expensive… and she did want a copy for herself, too, since she needed to get some ideas for her future weapon. "No need to pay me back. I'll get it as a gift. Let's call it… a thank-you-for-being-friends-with-me present."

"Whoa, really? Aww, then you're sweet, you know that? I swear I'll make it up to you soon."

"No need, but greatly appreciated. There better be carrots involved." Another amused snort came from the other end, knowing that Lune was joking. "Anyway, I'll just go get Mom to shop with me there."

"Tell her we said hi!"

Lune grinned at that one. "Thou message shall be relayed. Or something. See you soon."

After a chorus of "See you soon!" from the sisters, she ended the call. She lowered the scroll and stared up at her star-filled ceiling. She might sighed just a fair bit, too.

Now then… it was time to see if Mom was up for a trip to the city.

* * *

One boat trip and much walking later, Lune wasn't quite sure if she should feel sorry for her mom or for the shopkeeper. Here they were, in one of the many shops scattered all across Vale's commercial district, and both mother and daughter had just been denied service by a particularly snobby woman whose nose crinkled at the sight of them. Meanie.

River wasn't having any of it.

"Really? _Really?_ _"_ Mom thundered, and Lune kind of wished she'd just entered the shop by herself and left without a single quarrel. Assholes will be assholes, but her mother just wasn't about to lie down and accept that. "All we're here for is to buy a bunch of pens my little girl needs for next week and a magazine she's getting for her friend, and you have the _audacity_ to kick us out when we could have contributed to your store's profits? Just because we're a bunch of _Faunus_?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am"—clearly, the woman wasn't, but she was being slowly worn down by the force known as River Beryl—"but we simply don't serve the Faunus as a store policy. We've got a history of being broken into by your kind, so forgive me if we're not so willing to cater to you and your daughter."

Translation: because a Faunus broke into our store and stole a buncha stuff, we've decided that all Faunus are a risk and should therefore kick every single one of them out. Also, I'm spouting a load of crap that I think sounds professional but in reality I just don't like you guys.

"Oh, sure, let's pretend what you just said isn't a load of bull," Mom shot back, and her glare was especially menacing. "Let's also pretend that this store isn't _new_ and I'm someone who hasn't been in Vale for a good fraction of my life. So yes, you totally didn't just make that up. And you know what? Sometimes I end up thinking it's people like _you_ who should've been stuffed in Menagerie. You _and_ the rest of the assholes who own the same friggin' mindset."

Menagerie, Lune remembered from her history lesson, used to be a territory where Faunus were previously confined by the humans, back when the Faunus Rights Revolution wasn't a thing. To be fair, maybe it _would_ be a good idea if all the Faunus-hating humans resided there... or not. Nobody would want to come to that piece of land then.

In any case, that actually made the shopkeeper speechless. From where Lune was listening, she was pretty sure the woman's BS had just been thrown out of the window by her mom.

"How dare you—"

"I pay my bills, give bits and pieces back to the city, and live by Vale's rules and regulations. My husband is a Huntsman—and despite the crap you humans throw at us, he does his job anyway and help keep you ungrateful, ignorant, _bigoted_ people safe from the Grimm. In fact, how dare _you_ assume that my daughter and I are felons when we've been nothing but decent to you bastards." Mom cut her off, a finger pointed at the shopkeeper's chest.

And then another argument erupted between the two adults. Lune suddenly found the knickknacks in the nearest shelf interesting, knowing that she was going to need herself distracted while this small storm blew over. Honestly, it was all a matter of time before the woman behind the counter gave in. Nobody won against River Beryl when she got the ball rolling.

From her periphery, she noticed the other civilians—whom were visible in the glass panel at the side of the shop—had taken a look at the commotion, wisely decided against entering the shop, and walked forward as if nothing happened. Lune kinda wished she was one of those people.

So, where was she? Right. Pens. She glanced at the selection at another shelf, but she made sure to snag two Weapons Magazine copies before she went on to grab her variously-colored pens. Then, noticing that for all the poor customer service here, the notebooks were actually decent in quality, Lune decided to grab one, too.

As the girl finally returned to the bickering adults, she found that, yay, the whole thing was nearly over. The shopkeeper, finally realizing that she _was_ losing potential customers due to the fight, raised a hand to stop the next tirade that came from River's mouth.

"Alright, alright! God, I get it. Just promise me you two will leave—and not come back—after you get what you needed. Thanks to you, there goes our profits." The last part was more of a mutter, but both mother and daughter had no trouble hearing that.

Mom paused, took a deep breath, and let go of whatever edge she'd been carrying after the horrible treatment. She crossed her arms. "Good. Wonderful. Fantastic. See? Things would've been quick and easy if you just shut your mouth and let the two of us conclude our business." Lune looked up at her mom's face and found victory written all over her features. Mom: one, rude shopkeeper: zero. "And yeah, I actually noticed that. I was waiting for you to do so, too. Kinda slow, aren'tcha?"

The shopkeeper could only purse her lips as River gestured for Lune to come forward and pay for her purchases. The Lien given were scanned and concluded genuine, and soon enough, a paper bag filled with her new stuff was grudgingly handed back. Lune, admittedly, started feeling mischievous during that moment. The opportunity was just _begging_ not to be wasted.

So she lowered her paper bag, flashed the shopkeeper a sweet, angelic smile, and said, "Thank you for the business."

There was no mistaking the fact that Lune's green eyes reflected the way she was _enjoying_ the irony her statement implied. The shopkeeper glared at her a bit, but Lune pretended not to have noticed and trailed behind her mother as the woman stepped out of the store first.

* * *

Outside, when both mother and daughter had walked several blocks away from the place, they high-fived each other. Then, finding an ice cream place nearby, a cozy little structure sitting nice and comfy between two, taller buildings, Lune and her mom opted for a small break from their stroll. Yes, even though technically, nobody was actually _tired_ and they both just thought, hey, it's an ice cream place, so screw it, we're having ice cream.

Each had a bowl filled with the sugary goodness several minutes later, seated across each other by the window.

"Okay, so. While I _so_ want to revel in our earlier victory… I have to ask, are you doing okay, kid? You didn't have to see that if I could help it, but that lady was just so rude." Mom said, making Lune look up from her own bowl.

Lune swallowed the spoonful of ice cream she'd just shoved into her mouth. "Yeah, I'm okay. But she _is_ rude, so it's not like she didn't deserve it. I wouldn't have caused a fuss like you did, but then that probably wouldn't get what I wanted."

"Sometimes, you just needed to do a bit of pushing. I don't regret doing that one bit. Anyway, is there still something on your list that needs to get a huge check mark on? We've still got time for one last trip to any shop of our choosing."

"Just some clothes for Signal. For combat practices, I mean," Lune answered. She decided against getting her actual combat outfit, not when she was still growing, so some other kinds of clothes would probably do just fine. She pulled out her old notebook, flipped it open to a specific page, and slid it to her mom. "I actually have something in mind for what I want to wear someday, and I know it's too early to have that, but maybe you might want to know now?"

Mom didn't immediately answer at once. She scanned over the drawing with keen eyes, and Lune might have blushed a bit from the way the woman's stare grew intense. And as the seconds ticked by, Lune suddenly found herself growing juuust a bit more uncomfortable.

Finally, and mercifully, her mom looked up. And the smile on her face was just as faraway as the one Lune saw four years ago. "Y'know kiddo, that actually brings me back to when I was younger."

"What do you mean?" Lune asked, blinking at her.

"I actually did that, too. And I know I don't look like it, but I did get a slice of the whole combat academy experience. I remember getting as excited as you did when _my_ first day at a different combat school came closer and closer." Mom said, her features softening as she recalled some particularly fond memories. At Lune's questioning glance, she snorted and shook her head. "I'm not fooling you, sweetie. In fact, you could almost say I was good at it. Like, really good. But just as you've noticed… no, I didn't become a Huntress. But I do know all there is to know about being one. Or becoming one."

"Um… why? I mean, why didn't you become a Huntress?"

"For reasons I don't think I still want to recall. Sorry kid, but that particular skeleton's not coming out of the closet just yet. So it's… kind of complicated. I just thought you needed to know that the whole Huntress biz is going to be one helluva experience. Because I got into that ride, too, and I just wished I managed to complete it." Mom sighed.

And then she shook her head, like the melancholy memories would go away from one simple action. "What I mean to say is, yeah, it's not safe. And yeah, I've seen my fair share of deaths from those who thought they could handle the task. But! It's also exciting, and you'll end up learning a lot of things from the training. And I'm not just talking about knowing where to hit an opponent best or whether this weapon's good to be used with Dust or not. You'll make friends. Forge bonds, basically, and you might just find that some things just aren't what they seem to be, too. Each experience is unique for every person."

"Ahh, I see… and you're basically giving me a pep talk about the path before me and stuff like that? Because you've been there?"

"Preeetty much. But I _am_ serious about what I've just said." Mom said. The smile on her face was a sweet one this time. "I just want to say that… well, dangerous path or not, I'm proud of you. Proud for what, I don't know either, but I just _am_. I guess it's a Mom thing."

"Embarrassed as I suddenly feel, Mom, I'm glad to hear that," Lune awkwardly said, feeling like she was suddenly placed on top of a cloud. Praises were one of her weak spots. She scratched at her cheek with a finger and gave a small, almost nervous chuckle. "I'll just have to try my best to be really good at fighting so I can protect not just myself, but people like you, right?"

"Hey, I'm no slouch at combat, myself, but I get the sentiment," Mom said. She actually stuck her tongue out at her, just like the way Lune would several years ago. "So yeah, that's pretty much it. We've got one week to go, sweetie. And when that day comes, I wish you the best."

* * *

After that particularly memorable moment happened (and _after_ Lune finally had a set of clothes that could survive through lots of movement and bending), her first day at Signal had come far too quickly for her liking.

It was, like, being stuffed in a time machine and sent forward, not back. It was almost jarring, and the only time when Lune felt the time finally slow to a stop was when she was standing before the familiar sight of Signal Academy.

The day was nice and cloudless, the wind blowing by nice and crisp and rustling the trees nearby, and all Lune could think was that, hopefully, her first day at Signal came and went just as pleasantly as the weather.

"You ready for this?" Yang asked beside her. The two friends had opted on making their first step into Signal as students together.

Lune remembered Ruby being deflated at finding out that the kid wasn't to enroll at Signal until two more years, but with reassurances from both older girls that they'll keep her updated on whatever happened in the campus, the red-haired girl brightened up. Then again, they did also promise her that they'll tell her all about the kinds of weapons they find on the campus.

 _And besides_ , Lune thought then. _Ruby_ _'s going to forget being upset about this when she ends up getting to Beacon two years earlier._

Her thoughts became a jumbled mess after she felt her arm being suddenly punched, a slight pain spiking from the affected area. Lune raised an eyebrow at the offending blonde.

"You kinda spaced out there," was Yang's explanation.

"Oh." Lune flashed her a sheepish smile. She rubbed at the now-sore arm. "Just so you know, yeah, you _do_ punch hard. It's like being hit with a brick."

"That's not my best punch, though."

"I doubt I'd want to be on the receiving end of that one. Anyway..." She stared up at the majestic castle-lookalike. She inhaled and let loose a breath. "Yeah, I'm ready for this. No pressure. _No pressure_."

That earned another friendly punch. At the same spot, no less. "Aw, I know you'll do just fine. Stop it with the nervousness. So come on, chin up. Here's to seven years of combat training!" Yang held her fist up despite the frown sent her way.

"Fine." Seeing this, Lune smiled again and bumped hers against Yang's. "Here's to _surviving_ seven years of combat training."

* * *

 **A/N:** Prooooobably not my best chapter, but with thesis distracting me again, among other things, I'm just glad I managed to complete this soon enough. That's not the last time you're all seeing Aqua, by the way. If that wasn't obvious. River is incredibly fun to write, though. It's like, shit, man, you don't cross River whenever possible. That's how I picture her, anyway.

Oh, and I seriously have no idea that I'd actually get this amount of feedback. It's amazing... I mean, OC stories on RWBY tend to make anyone want to avoid clicking it. Doubly so when it's an insert. So to have people actually liking it... you guys have no idea how happy it's making me. I wish I could reply to each and every review, but yeaaaah, time constraints. DX

Anyway, feel free to do the usual, guys! I don't have to mention it again, lol.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Lune had to admit, the assembly area being located outdoors might actually be a good decision on Signal Academy's part as most events these days tended to be held within the confines of a building. Graduations, assemblies, shows… you name it.

Sure, there was no air conditioning to stave off the heat, but then the breeze that blew against her was cool enough to be a good alternative; Patch wasn't a location with a hot climate to begin with. The domed roof from high above ensured that the sun wasn't going to be harassing anyone with its ultraviolet rays, and the surrounding greenery consisting of trees, grass, flowerbeds, and awesomely-shaped shrubberies (like, whoa, who was their gardener?) made for a pretty pleasant sight. They blended well with the white-gray-colored flooring and buildings.

In fact, she could almost say that being outdoors meant the atmosphere was leaning way more on relaxing rather than tense or foreboding. Kind of like a hospital room having a potted plant to make its patient feel more at ease—because that was exactly how everyone seemed to feel like. _At ease_.

Oh, of course there would still be a hint of excitement hanging over them. Of course nothing was more tense than waiting to see what will happen today, to gaze at an abyss and wonder what would be staring back (and all that jazz). But most people were just being chill anyway, chatting with either their old friends or new ones as they waited for the headmaster to come into the stage with the faculty in tow. There was still the occasional person who kept shifting from where they stood at or sat on, like Yang beside her, but seriously, Lune didn't find things to be as claustrophobic as being stuck inside some building with only the lights high above making sure nothing was in inky darkness.

"This is it," Yang said, whirling towards Lune. "I think I see some people finally coming. Your dad and my dad are some of them, and... Uncle Qrow's not there, obviously. He's watching Ruby today."

Lune definitely couldn't see the same thing, not when she was a head shorter than Yang. And apparently, most ten-year-olds here were taller than her. She could stand on her tiptoes and still fail to see what she hoped to find. "Is the headmaster there, too?"

Yang looked at the spot beside the platform again, her lilac eyes alert and on the lookout, and Lune noticed the pigtailed blonde's mouth make a small 'o' shape as she found what she was looking for.

"Actually," she then said slowly, turning back to her. "It's more like head _mistress_."

Lune decided that she definitely wanted to stand in a better spot, and before Yang could let out a sound of surprise, she moved and maneuvered her way to the front of the crowd. She might admit that, in the process, there were a few excuse me's and gentle nudges involved. And recently, a dirty look, which she returned with a stuck-out tongue.

She was sure that Yang had followed her, but right now she was too busy gazing at the platform to confirm her friend's presence.

"Whoa." Lune said after she emerged into the front of the crowd, now realizing why Yang looked so surprised.

Whoa, indeed.

The woman that stepped into the platform had the appearance of someone she wouldn't expect to _be_ leading Signal Academy. And it wasn't just because of the fact that she resembled a rock star way more than a headmistress, thanks to the red, fur-lined coat, orange tube top, and black skirt she wore proudly and without shame (though, the boots were to die for).

Not because of the fact that she looked like someone in her mid twenties, either, with her maroon, spiky ponytail making her look so much younger.

(However, that guitar on her back was pretty badass, considering how it appeared to be her a weapon, too. Probably something like an axe after it was activated.)

No, it was because of the way she swaggered, the way she gazed over the Signal newbies with fiery eyes that alternated between interest and disinterest. The way she smirked at whatever conclusion she'd made afterward. She kind of… went against whatever stereotypes Lune knew when it came to school heads.

The woman fiddled with her headpiece, activated her microphone, and opened her mouth to speak.

"So." She began, and everyone's eyes were wide and attentive as they anticipated what was most likely a welcome speech. Silence. "Here stands before me the next generation of aspiring Huntsmen. People who might have what it takes to push back the Grimm once and for all, and people who will kick their asses to the next millennium and make sure they stay there. Heroes, fighters, defenders or what have you… they're what you all strive to become. I can see it in your eyes."

She paused and let the silence reign.

But several seconds later, she scoffed, ruining whatever atmosphere her presence had built up. "Sorry to say this, kids, but honestly? Y'all don't look like much. You have some of the others to thank for balancing things out, but for the most part, I'd have thought you kids are a bunch of spoiled brats who think wielding one shiny weapon is all you need to do to become Huntsmen."

 _Ouch_. Some of the kids visibly winced, and some went slack-jawed. Some actually made a squawk of protest.

"Wow, she really knows how to get things all fired up," Yang commented as more affronted sounds and surprised chatters then escaped from some in the crowd. The blonde wasn't sporting a happy expression herself.

"Considering how _fiery_ her clothes already look, I'm not surprised," Lune said.

She wasn't the least offended. Mostly because she was pretty sure this had all the makings of a the-reason-you-suck speech before it transitioned into a more acceptable one.

In fact, someone better answer the phone, because she definitely called it.

Shaking her head at the crowd, the headmistress gave her microphone stand one hard slam on the platform, making a sound loud and harsh enough to make everyone shut up at once and listen to her, for the love of God. While most of the students simply went still and stared at the platform with wide eyes, some faunus—because, yes, _yahoo_ , she wasn't the only one this time—like Lune ended up clutching their sensitive animal ears, the appendages ringing from the sound.

The headmistress didn't even look apologetic as she cleared her throat and began her real speech.

"Sheesh, I wasn't even done talking. Now where was I—right, now I remember. I meant what I said earlier, but that doesn't mean Signal Academy's about to send you all home just because I, Idrisa Blackthorn, decided none of you appear to have what it takes to survive seven years of training. Hell no. Remember why Signal Academy exists, people, so training you inexperienced brats is exactly what my team and I are going to be doing from this day onward.

"So, with that said, welcome to Signal Academy. You'll find out soon enough that we mean serious business when we say one of our primary goals is to polish you kids into the into the shiny gems Beacon, Haven, Atlas, or Shade Academy will be glad to accept in the future. Hell, I would even say that you'll _need_ our training.

"As you know, each Huntsman academy has their way of initiating you into their ranks. It varies from kingdom to kingdom, and if you do not end up prepared for it… I'll put this as bluntly as I can: you _can_ die in the process. I'm not saying this so you can turn tail, run, and live the oh-so-dreary civilian life in one of the four kingdoms. I'm saying this because each and every one of you need to be aware that, what you're going to be doing? It will not be a game.

"You will learn. You will grow. And most importantly, you will change. If none of that happens, I'll eat one of my boots—and I'll even let you watch."

Idrisa smirked and winked at the stunned students. "So there. That's all I wanted to say. I can only do so much speechifying in one day. But as a last note, we'll be having an hour-long break. Please, feel free to familiarize yourself with Signal's facilities for the meantime. Or don't. Your free time is yours to spend. Just remember to return here once the time's up, and then we'll go through all the necessary hurdles that's usually associated with first days in a new school. Or something like that."

And just like that, whatever impressions everyone had of the headmistress was put aside as excited chatter about the test started anew, the crowd dispersing and taking whatever direction they wanted to take. Some started walking down the white road consisting of stone tiles, and some went on to sit against the trunk of a nearby tree, taking a breather and just… enjoying being here in Signal.

Lune, on the other hand, glanced back at the area where the remaining Signal faculty still stood. She caught her dad's eye and received a wink before the fox Faunus turned away to follow the other members of the faculty. She spotted Yang in her peripheral, sending her own dad a cheery wave before turning her head to Lune.

Plus side: Yang didn't appear to feel insulted anymore and looked just as excited as the others.

"So!" Yang said in an upbeat tone, turning to her and crossing her arms over her brown, sleeveless shirt. "Thoughts?"

"Our headmistress is one heckuva character?" Lune said, her answer being the first that came to mind. Yang's unimpressed reaction made Lune try again. "Okay, okay, so it's more like… Okay. We have one hour to tour Signal, and I can't spend half of it sleeping under some tree. Shame, because this weather right here is _the_ ideal napping weather." She yawned. "I get it. You'll kick my ass otherwise. Also, I'm pretty sure all we're having today is an orientation. We'll probably be getting our class schedules arranged, too, and I'm pretty sure we also have our own living arrangements to be established here. Not everyone's from Vale, after all."

 _That_ had the blonde nodding approvingly. "Much better. Anyway, have you gotten your aura activated, too? You never wanted to talk about it whenever I put that question up in the air."

"I don't see what we'll need it for—"

"It doesn't look like we'll need it just yet, considering that _some_ still don't have theirs switched on, but come on, it's, like, our first day in Signal. You can't avoid the aura topic forever." Yang said, not having heard Lune. "So, your answer?"

 _Crap._

 _CRAP._

"Well…" Nervousness suddenly bit at Lune and her mind began frantically shifting from one thought to another. She'd done her level best to block the memory and pretend it never happened, but with Yang here practically opening the floodgates… ugh. She didn't know what to think.

 _Calm down_ , she inwardly told herself _. No pressure. You_ _'re known for maintaining composure, Lune, not for flipping the freak out the moment things don't go your way… whenever Aqua's not around, anyway. God, I think I miss the jerk already._

In any case, Yang _was_ telling the truth when she mentioned Lune was doing her level best to avoid _that_ particular conversation topic.

It wasn't because there was something that embarrassing about her aura, as it was the manifestation of her soul and she couldn't control what it would be like when activated. But… God, whenever she had to think about _her_ aura, the words kept dying in her mouth and all she could do was stare at Yang, laugh, and pretend not to have heard what she'd asked, shifting the topic. This time, though, Yang wasn't letting Lune get her way. And she wasn't about to let her forget all about it, either.

Her aura was… a complicated topic, okay? As in, reincarnation levels of complicated. She'd gotten it activated just fine, all by herself, but—

* * *

" _That's great, sweetie! Looks like I didn't have to do it for you, after all. And look at how bright it is—uh, Lune, sweetie? You don't look too good."_

" _Dad? I feel… weird."_

" _Weird? Huh, that's not supposed to happen—oh God. Lune? Lune!"_

* * *

—she kind of… fainted when it happened.

No really, she did faint. For one moment, she'd felt so happy and strong and glowed blue-white like a firefly. She felt like she could take on anything, the adrenaline rush so awesome and memorable.

But the sensation had quickly come to pass, and she suddenly felt like an overloaded circuit.

Power. Too much power that it overwhelmed her, a tsunami that easily broke through a seawall. She was down and out before she could control a fraction of it. And by the time she came to, she was being checked up on by an aura specialist, her worried parents standing in the background.

"She appears to have double the aura reserves a normal person should have," he'd stated. She didn't the way he looked at her. "While I would marvel at this peculiarity and consider this a very good thing for an aspiring warrior like her, I can only assume that the downside will be the difficulty of manipulating it. Don't get me wrong, her aura is a very fine force field on its own. Very durable. But I would suggest that she learns, little by little, how to completely bend it to her will before she tries touching even the smallest amount of Dust."

He had a good point, she'd realized. When she'd gone to see if that statement rang true and ended up with a crater in the Beryl household's backyard, she hadn't bothered with handling Dust ever since. She wasn't harmed in anyway thanks to her aura, but _merde_ that still hurt like a bitch. _Tr_ _ès_ freakin' _bien_.

It occurred to her that that was apparently where her reincarnated aspect came in. She wasn't an expert with aura herself, but maybe, just maybe… when she'd died as Amelie, her old soul blended into the new one she had as Lune. One cup of water added into the already-filled bowl, then mixed with a whisk. Or something. It made her feel kind of special, admittedly, but she wasn't about to let _that_ go into her head.

Oh, no, the last thing she wanted to do was live with the knowledge that she was just _that_ different from the rest. Especially when she had to put into account the fact that she was a walking Dust detonator if her uncontrolled aura did so much as touch the stuff.

…At least until she finally pulled herself together and made her aura her bitch, anyway. She had yet to make any progress in that department.

(Thank goodness she hadn't met Weiss Schnee yet. Things would get pretty hairy if Lune ever got close to one of her Dust vials.)

"Remnant to Lune! Did you somehow discover a way to get into space? You look like you've just gone there." Yang said and interrupted Lune's thoughts.

The faunus blinked, realized that a hand was being waved in front of her face, and gently pushed it away with her own hand. For a moment, she might have found the statement strange. But then— _oh_ , right, nobody in Remnant had discovered how to get into outer space yet. Dust didn't work beyond the atmosphere.

"Ahaha… oops? I do recommend a trip to the moon, though," Lune said smoothly (lamely), causing the other girl to raise an eyebrow at her. Lune grinned. "Anyway, yeah, I've got my aura activated, alright. But I think you need to know this…" The smile on her face was, crassly put, fake as shit. "I'm bad at controlling it. Bad, as in I-touch-Dust-and-it-explodes kind of bad. Until I learn how to completely tame this thing, my aura stays as my own personal force field. Nothing more."

"Seriously?"

"Yup. Meet your resident Dust detonator. So if anything, I kinda wish I was more like you. You're practically a pro already—you've even managed to discover your semblance!"

...She should call that the Lune Maneuver, from the way she'd shifted attention from her to the blonde. Apparently, it was effective, because the compliment made the blonde grin proudly.

"Well, I need to get hit a lot of times before I could use it properly, but yeah! Awesome, isn't it? I have a head start on most people." She grinned widely, but then concern filled her features as Lune's admission completely sunk in. "Sucks to hear about your aura, though. You're okay, right?"

"I'm fine, Yang. But I swear, this thing's so bothersome and all I could do is hope I get to fix this problem soon. Dad's willing to help me out on that one, but I'm thinking that, hey, maybe _your_ dad or Qrow will be able to help me, too." Lune gave the campus a sidelong glance and shrugged. "We _are_ in Signal, aren't we? We're here to learn how to be proper warriors, keep the world safe from the Grimm, and all that jazz. I might eat my own shoe, too, if I don't end up being someone decent by the time graduation comes around."

The blonde grinned and smacked a fist into her open palm. "Right! While I doubt I'd want to be in _your_ shoes if that happened, we still have a tour to finish. I dunno about you, but I'm feeling kind of excited about what we could end up finding! So without further ado…" She quickly grabbed Lune's hand and pulled, dragging the faunus along with her as they headed towards the direction of Signal Academy's main building. The blonde ignored Lune's sounds of protest as she walked in her own (faster) pace. "We'll head into that building first and see what's in there. I hope you're ready for this, because the Yang-tastic tour is officially in progress!"

* * *

Signal Academy's layout was actually pretty simple to understand.

First, there was the main building where the classrooms, sparring areas, and offices were located. This would be where most of the day-to-day activities will be done and, if Lune were to picture the entire campus as one big square, this particularly building would be smack dab in the middle. At its front was the walkway leading towards the school's large gates and eventually the outside, and surrounding it were the other facilities existing in the campus.

 _Those_ , on the other hand, were positioned in such a way that they practically encircled the main building.

That's right, they were in the outline of a convex, starting from the assembly area east of the main building and followed by the library, which was to the northeast; the dorms, which were conveniently positioned directly to the north; the infirmary, which was north west; and the stadium, which was directly to the west of the main building.

From what Lune and Yang learned from an upperclassman hanging out there, the stadium was primarily used for inter-school events—and occasionally, tournaments for the graduating batch. The other buildings were self-explanatory.

All in all, Lune had no doubts that even the most directionally-challenged person was never going to end up lost here. Seriously, not only was there was a distinct lack of twist and turns, with all the buildings connected to each other by straightforward roads, but there were also many helpful signs dotting the area. With arrows. Big ones.

It made Lune wonder if she could have spent her free time napping under a tree because no doubt she could memorize the entire school in one day, but on the other hand, it was actually nice to be much more familiarized with Signal's layout.

"You know," Yang began as she and Lune slowly made their way back to the assembly area. They'd just recently finished touring the stadium, and the two friends were walking side-by-side down the white road. "Being here in Signal kind of brings me back."

"How so?"

Yang smiled, gazing up at the cloudy sky. "I dunno, but I remember having looked forward to coming here. Like, every time I had to think of Signal, I'd get super excited and think of all the equally exciting stuff I'll get to do. Seeing the world, being on a team like my parents did, getting into all sorts of adventures and getting to help people at the same time… it's one crazy ride I want in on."

"And… you're not as excited now?"

The blonde shook her head and let her lilac eyes rest on Lune's curious green ones. "Nah, nothing's changed in that department. I'm just saying, I remember that this isn't the first time I saw Signal up close—and it's not your first time either, remember? I just didn't think I'd get to go to Signal for the first time in _that_ way."

"Ohhh," Lune said, the realization finally dawning on her. She didn't realize how distant the memory felt until she had to remember it now. "You meant the day when we first met."

"Yup." Yang nodded, making her pigtails bounce. "You know, you never did ask what happened that day. You just went on with being friends with me—and Ruby—without so much as a complaint. Now that I think about it, weren't you basically told by the adults to talk to me, anyway?"

"Basically, yeah. But considering that we're still friends, that should say a lot about what I think of you guys." Lune said, and honestly, the fact that she and Yang were still buddies _should_ say a lot.

"Hah, that's true." Yang admitted with a grin. "But hey, we still have a long way to go before we're back to where we started this tour. Are you up for a little story telling? You might as well know now, rather than later."

"It's your call." Lune shrugged, but on the inside, she already knew the story itself. Or at least, she remembered bits and pieces of it. Key players, directly and indirectly. "This sounds pretty personal."

Accepting Lune's answer as a yes, Yang proceeded to tell Lune what the faunus already knew: that Yang had found out that Summer Rose wasn't her real mother and Raven Branwen—though Yang didn't know her name, just that Lune did and _oh God_ should she tell her?—had left her shortly after she was born. Then she thought she had a lead on her mom's location, went to search with Ruby in tow, and got nearly got attacked by Grimm. Qrow had come to the rescue, contacted Taiyang by scroll, and brought the kids there because Signal was the closest location. She later met Lune, and here she was.

Like Lune said, she knew this tale already.

"I guess that means being a Huntress will maybe help you in your search for your real mom, too, then?" Lune decided to say anyway, forcing her thoughts to move away from whatever she knew of Yang's mother. She could probably do a rough sketch of Raven… but gosh, the complications that would bring.

 _Yang will find out in a later time and I shouldn_ _'t ruin that_. For now, she needed to be the friend she actually was, even if this kind of knowledge wanted to pull her down the ocean like a pair of cement shoes.

"I thought of that throughout the years. But like I've promised to myself, I'm takin' it easy." Yang said. She grinned at Lune. "And even if that particular memory isn't a good one, I can still see the silver lining in it. I think I just ended up beating around the bush there, but basically, what I wanted to say is this: I'm glad I met you. And I'm even gladder we're in Signal together. Seriously, I could imagine all the things we could end up doing while we're here." She laughed. "And once Ruby's here, things will be twice as fun!"

"Let's not give our teachers a hard time, okay?" Lune said. And then, in a show of brief awkwardness, she ran a finger through her rabbit ear repeatedly. "And just so you know, I'm, ah, pretty glad I met you, too. Because, God, I can't say this enough, but my bullies made sure I don't have any friends in that stupid school."

 _Aqua_ , she thought, _may or may not count as a bully anymore, though_.

"Well, if you still have bullies now, I'm here to make sure they stay away. Nobody messes with a friend of mine." Yang said and gave Lune a one-armed hug.

"You do remember that I can handle them, right?"

Yang scoffed. "By handling, you mean either ignoring them until they go away or sprinkling itching powder on their backpacks when they're not looking. Or pretending that you accidentally bumped someone into a fountain. You're not exactly a direct person."

"Only because it's not worth the effort and I'm just that lazy," Lune shot back, gesturing with her hand at the same time. "But eh, if it comes to that and I can't get out of it, sure, I'll do some confronting."

"Right, and Beowolves actually talk," Yang said, sticking her tongue out at Lune. Lune, in response, lightly bumped her shoulder against the blonde's.

"Oh, whatever. You're not going to accept any answer other than 'oh, Yang, you're so right!'. So let's just go back to the assembly area." The faunus decided to say instead of pushing her case. "You do the upfront stuff, I'll deal with the stuff in the background."

"Deal." Yang said, but just as their conversation came to a close, her lilac eyes spotted something in the distance. She paused from her walk. "Hey, is that—"

"The headmistress?" Lune finished for her, staring at the direction Yang was looking at.

Indeed, there was Professor Blackthorn—and with her was a girl near Lune's age, wearing a purple sweater and a white skirt.

There shouldn't have been anything significant to note about the scene, not when the whole thing could be something as simple as a headmistress conversing with a student to show she was still very approachable. But when the air of familiarity between them had to be considered, both females were much more than that. What they appeared to be talking about was another thing entirely, though. Not exactly a positive kind of conversation…

And then the headmistress realized that someone else was present, looked Lune's way, gestured to her location with a small movement of her head.

"I think she wants to talk to me. For some reason." Lune said, blinking.

Yang stared at the headmistress and the girl before shrugging. "Well, it looks like she does. If that's the case, I think I'll go on ahead." At Lune's raised eyebrows, Yang explained, "Not because I'm dumping you in a shark tank, but I'm not sure how long you'll be there. I'm thinking of saving you a spot in the assembly area before it gets really crowded."

"Nice save. For a moment, I thought you really _are_ ditching me after that heart-to-heart talk you just did with me," Lune said as a joke, making Yang roll her eyes in amusement. "Alright, then. Those better be front row seats you're saving—even if there technically aren't any seats in the first place."

"No problem." And Yang left, giving the faunus a casual wave before Lune set off towards the headmistress and the younger girl.

The girl, upon closer inspection, was actually a bit older than Lune. By a year or two, she thought, because she wasn't good at estimating a person's age. The only physical indication was the girl having all the signs of puberty effecting her body—or at least, she had the signs of the beginnings of one. And from the way the girl was uneasily—almost frantically—looking at the headmistress as Lune came closer, _soft_ was definitely the first word that came to mind when she had to describe the girl. Softer, with that shy, delicate-looking face and those nervous, purple eyes behind a pair of glasses.

…And maybe cute, too, because of those braids her cream-colored hair sported.

"I was actually hoping your friend came along, too, but I can see why anyone your age isn't too keen on coming close to me." Idrisa—Professor Blackthorn, Lune reminded herself—said as the faunus stopped before them with a questioning look in her face. Lune had to admit, it was refreshing to be regarded without any kind of disdain. The headmistress smiled dryly. "Hey, I'm not a rock. I'm perfectly aware of the kind of image I'm projecting. It's, admittedly, a far cry from the kind I made when I did a few months of performing in a couple stages all across Vale. But, there we go. Doesn't help that I'm the one currently running this school here, either."

 _Well, that_ _'s one truth exposed_ , Lune idly thought. _Rock star indeed._ "So… ah, wait. How do I refer to you, ma'am?"

"Respectful. I think I like you, kid. Feel free to stick to either Professor or Headmistress. I'm not picky."

"Professor, then. Anything you need from me?"

"Actually, yeah, I do." Professor Blackthorn said, brightening up. As if on cue, she placed a hand behind the shy girl's back and gave her a firm push towards Lune. The girl nearly stumbled as a result. "I want you to keep Vanilla here company."

Blink, blink.

"W-what? Big sister!" the girl, Vanilla, protested in a squeaky voice, whirling towards the woman with wide eyes. "We've talked about this before… haven't you listened?"

Lune kind of thought she might want to have a pair of mini plates on her face, herself, because _holy cheese sticks_ she did not expect the girl to be related to Idrisa Freakin' Blackthorn _._ Not that it was impossible to have an age gap like that as siblings, but even in Remnant, she was pretty sure that wasn't common.

...It just wasn't one of the things she didn't see coming, okay?

But as it was, all Lune could do was keep calm and tilt her head slightly in curiosity, the headmistress looking at her younger sister fondly.

"Vani, I'm just helping you out here, nudging you in the right direction. The first thing you did when you came here with me was to stick to me like super glue. Which was cute when you were six... but right now? Not so much." Idrisa reminded Vanilla, her tone a perfect blend of firmness and gentleness. "You know you can't rely on me forever, so this is me saying that you need _friends_ , and I'll be damned if you don't make one today."

"I get your point… But did you have to force someone to stay with me?" Vanilla asked. "That's, um, rude and power-abusive… isn't it?"

The headmistress looked over Lune once, appearing to pass silent judgment over the faunus before shrugging dismissively. "She doesn't look like she minds at all."

For that one moment, Vanilla and Lune actually _did_ make eye contact, suddenly thinking almost the same thing.

 _Well, gee, it_ _'s not like I could say no to Signal's freakin' headmistress._

"Y-you're the headmistress! You could… you could kick her out of Signal just because she said the wrong thing." Vanilla voiced some of her thoughts aloud. Lune guessed right, apparently. "Of course she's going to say yes!"

"Alas, such are the perks of being so high up in the food chain." Professor Blackthorn actually chuckled, unashamed of that admission. "But I digress, I'm not doing this as the headmistress. I'm doing this as a perfectly concerned older sister who only wants the best for her sweet, younger sister. And this girl right here looks perfectly respectable, don'tcha think?"

Lune _swore_ she was being silently asked to back the headmistress up here. There was no mistaking that meaningful stare being thrown her way. No mistaking the subtle pressure made Lune think she should have sunk to the ground. Or melted.

But! Just like the actress she'd learned to become the moment she'd been reincarnated, Lune put on an easy smile and directed some of her positivity towards Vanilla. "Seriously, I don't mind at all. I don't know a lot of people here either, and I could use some company. It's not like anyone's clamoring to befriend a Faunus."

That might have sounded just a tad bitterer than she'd intended, but what the hell.

"Um…" Vanilla didn't know what to say to that.

Professor Blackthorn decided that her job here was done. Lune's acceptance of the headmistress' quiet request sealed the deal. Idrisa was having none of the helpless glances tossed at her by the younger girl. In fact, approval and victory both blended seamlessly on the woman's expression.

"See? It's all good." She said. "So there, conversation closed. Have fun with…"

"Lune, ma'am." The girl supplied.

"Lune, then. Have fun with her, Vani. I know good company when I see one. So if you'll excuse me, I need to finalize some things with the teachers. Remember to be back for the assembly in ten minutes; I'm not doing an encore for latecomers. This is no concert." The headmistress said with an air of finality. But before she turned away, she smiled at Lune. "Thanks for being a sweetie, by the way, Lune. She really has trouble making friends, so I'm glad you're giving me an assist. She's a sweet girl, you'll see." She then winked, her lips curling into a smirk. "But don't start thinking that this is going to make your stay in Signal any easier, you hear? I'm not about to show any biases for anyone—even my little sis."

Lune grinned and saluted. "Vanilla's in good hands."

"Glad to know. I'll see you kids later."

And off went Idrisa Blackthorn, right in the direction towards the main building. Lune guessed that the woman was probably going to go over the class schedules, dorm arrangements and the like, but really, who knew? What mattered now was the girl Idrisa left behind, and… okay, so Vanilla looked like she wanted to melt into a puddle just then, after realizing that she was, indeed, stuck where she was with no way out. The girl was looking anywhere _but_ at Lune, her hands clutching the edges of her purple, hooded sweater.

"Hey," Lune gently said, tapping a finger over the girl's shoulder. Vanilla didn't exactly flinch away, but Lune felt her body jerk. "Look, you don't have to stick with me if you don't want to. I won't be offended. I've got a friend waiting for me back there, anyway."

The girl shyly looked at the faunus, readjusting her glasses. Determining that Lune was being genuinely nice, she sighed and said, "I-I'm sorry… that's not what I wanted you to think. It's just that, um, I'm really nervous about being here. Everyone's at least two years younger than me, and here I am, getting into Signal pretty late just because I thought I wasn't prepared until now. I just feel so out of place—and who knows what everyone will think after they realize I'm the headmistress' sister?"

Considering how Lune vaguely remembered being Amelie and delayed from graduation for three years, that kind of hit close to home. The out of place part, anyway.

"Eh, there's no denying you'll be placed in some sort of pedestal once they know, but other than that… are you really prepared to be here?" Lune said, maintaining her even tone of voice. Slow and steady, and just at the right level to keep the girl staying there and not running off, shrieking. Lune gave Vanilla a quick once-over. "You don't look like you want to be here. No offense."

Vanilla smiled hesitantly. "None taken. I'm not… being forced to attend Signal. I _do_ want to become a Huntress someday, too. I just… get afraid of being a disappointment, you know? All I have for a family is my sister, and I don't w-want to fail her like our parents did. She's done so, so much for me already." She shook her head. "B-but you probably don't care about that, don't you? I'm just blabbering whatever comes to mind. I'm like that, sometimes... even in front of strangers."

Poor girl. While Lune felt a bit sorry for her, she kind of felt a bit protective at the same time. "Geez, I don't really know you or your history either, but I'm not an insensitive jerk. I'd sooner say the others are, considering what I am"—Lune gestured to her rabbit ears—"but… that's beside the point. So seriously, I'm not going to bite or treat you badly while your sister's not looking. I'm not like that."

"I see…"

"So, going back to what you've just said, if you're determined to spend the next seven years in Signal, maybe it's high time you decide to prove that, hmm? If there's a day you really should start changing, won't today be a good one?"

Vanilla blinked, surprise written all over her face. Lune had to admit, she did just give a pretty decent advice just then. The shy girl finally relaxed and gave a smile that was much warmer and less nervous than before. She took a deep breath and exhaled, her posture relaxing from its previously stiff state.

"…You're right. Sorry about that. I guess, now that I think about it… I _am_ stressing myself for no reason." She bowed in apology. "Again, I-I'm sorry you had to see me that way. I mean it when I say this time that I want to stay with you for now, if that's okay. It's… not like I know anyone else, like my sister said."

"Hey, we all get the first day jitters. So come on, let's just go there and get this over with." Lune said, taking hold of Vanilla's arm. Feeling no resistance, she gave a gentle tug and began making her way back to Yang, at the same time ensuring that her pace was even enough for the other girl to match.

Vanilla did so without much problem, though her head was bowed the entire way. However, when Lune decided to glance back and check if the girl was following just fine, Vanilla slowly met her eyes and gave a small smile in return.

* * *

And so the rest of the orientation went off without a hitch. There was a brief discussion of the school regulations, as well as an introduction of the teachers present, and once that was done, all the students were directed towards the main building so they could get their room assignments and their schedules. The rest of the day would be theirs to spend after that, and as the headmistress put it, "Better enjoy the day while it last, kids. _Tomorrow_ is when things start picking up."

She was right. Tomorrow will be the official start of Signal's newest term, and from what they've heard from the upperclassmen, the classes, while still easy, were nothing to be sneezed at. It would be exciting as it would be challenging. Lively as it would be tiring.

That actually made the students more nervous than anything. Y'know, the usual first day jitters. But on the plus side, the feeling didn't linger; excitement reigned among them once more as they decided on living in the present to the best of their ability. Lune found it all to be oh-so-typical, almost reminiscent of her first day in school back in her old world. Some things never changed, she supposed, but she knew that some differences could be subtle as hell.

In any case, Lune had just received her schedule and her room key. The thick piece of paper came with a folder that had her name in silver, cursive letters, and _that_ one also contained a school map, a form detailing her personal information, and a flowchart of what subjects she would be taking in the years to come. It was all so… Earth-like, if it weren't for the combat classes included in her schedule. And the weapons-crafting requirement for those with two years left of combat school.

She could have easily mistaken today as her first day in high school or something. Almost.

"So," Yang said as Lune went to greet her; the blonde had received her own room assignment and schedule way before Lune did. "We're definitely having the same classes, that's for sure. All first years do. But for the room assignment… even though our house is, like, close to the school… are we sharing or not?"

Lune waved her keycard in front of Yang, a sleek, white object with three digits written on the lower left corner. Lune checked her room number, then Yang's, and…

"Unfortunately, we're not," Lune concluded in disappointment.

"Crap, that's too bad," Yang said, pocketing her own card. At an attempt at keeping the mood positive, she added, "Hey, at least we don't have to fight over who gets which bed. Or, God, fight over who uses the bathroom first when it's morning. And there's still the same schedule thing. And, besides, it's not like we have to _be_ here twenty-four-seven. We live nearby."

"I guess so. But still, this means we're both getting new roommates." Lune said. A thought then occurred to her, making her stomach do a funny flip. "Oh, lord, what if we get roommates that end up being the last kind of person we'd want as one? Even worse, we don't even know who we're rooming with."

 _I'm not socially awkward_ , Lune had to tell herself inwardly. _But there's always something awkward about sharing the same room with a total stranger._

"I-I believe there won't be such a problem—at least for you, Lune," a soft voice then interrupted from behind. The faunus turned to see a shyly smiling Vanilla, her own folder clutched to her chest. "Oh, and hello."

Right, there was still Vanilla to consider. As luck would have it, she was, indeed, Lune's roommate. Lune had just confirmed it and everything.

"Hey." Yang greeted with a wave. She and the older girl had introduced each other earlier in the assembly, though it was obvious that Vanilla couldn't keep up with the blonde. "Vanilla, right? Nice to see you again. I guess that means Lune's in good hands." Mischief sparked in her lilac eyes. "...Or not, considering that my friend here's suddenly in the headmistress' radar."

"…What."

"Um, it looks that way?" Vanilla said, more like _asked_ , looking at Lune apologetically before mustering up her courage to look back at Yang. "So, um, are you two going to the dorms now? I can go by myself, but I think I'd like to be… not alone, for once."

Lune gave Yang a somewhat dirty look before she shrugged at the other girl. "I don't mind checking it out now. How 'bout you, Yang?"

"Not a problem for me, either. I ought to go meet my roommate sometime soon, anyway," Yang said with a grin.

"That's settled, then. Come on, you two. Let's get this over with," Lune said. Flashing Vanilla a reassuring smile, Lune turned away and head towards the dorms—

"Wrong way." Yang pointed out.

The faunus paused, realized that she was, indeed, going in the wrong direction, and turned around. Despite feeling embarrassed because she thought herself better than that, she managed to keep a serene expression on her face and ambled towards the two waiting girls. Vanilla had the decency to be embarrassed for her, at least.

"I knew that."

She only hoped she wouldn't make the same blunder tomorrow. She told herself that this was just a one time thing, and tomorrow… tomorrow, she was going to be at the top of her game.

She had the future to prepare for, after all.

* * *

 **A/N:** I swear this chapter took a life on its own. I told myself I'll get the real first day of Signal started today, but some character introductions had to be dealt with before I get to that (Idrisa is based from _Idris_ , Welsh for _fiery_ _lord,_ if I did my research right; I had to make it sound more feminine). Also, for the life of me, I have absolutely no idea what capitalization rules to go by when referring to another species (as I've mentioned to someone, we never covered that in my English class; yes, English is _so_ not my first language). I hope it's done better this time.

That said, much interaction happening in this chapter. You guys be the judge of how decently I've done this, because lol, I have absolutely no idea. XD To be honest, I was seriously thinking about how I was going to deal with Lune's aura. Obviously, she won't be normal in that department because, whoo, reincarnation, but at the same time, I don't want her to be suddenly OP, either. I think learning to control her aura is a good starting point.

I also swear I did _not_ mean to end up with this long a chapter, but you guys appear to be used to long chapters, anyway, which I'm super-super thankful for. I can only hope this isn't super boring. It's a miracle to have come up with something this long, when I'm dealing with my thesis for the meantime - gawsh, on the plus side, I'm nearly done with that one. Just the thesis defense left, and I'm golden.

And because _PinwheelGrizzly_ so kindly gave my story a mention on _his_ story, I'm going to repay the favor. Please, feel free to check out _Generations_ _(SYOC)_! It's a lot more decently written compared to most OC stories you find in the fandom, and I do like the world being built up there because it starts out in a generation earlier than Team STRQ. Obviously, one shouldn't expect perfection, but he's well on his way to becoming really good. (Also, get well soon, Grizzly! It's unfortunate that had to happen to you.)

Admittedly, just like him, I'm still working to get better with my writing too. XD

Thanks, as usual, for the feedback, guys, and I'll see you all next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Lune Beryl shot up from her bed, feeling strangely disoriented as her heart thudded furiously against her chest. She normally wasn't the type of person to curse, outwardly _or_ inwardly, but _what the fuck_ , man?

Pulling out her scroll from underneath her pillow and checking the current time revealed that it was three in the morning. That meant she'd been asleep for five hours as she'd gone to bed at around ten, but that also meant not much time had passed since she started dreaming, either. She could've sworn she'd been stuck in her own dreamland far longer than that.

Lune let out a soft groan, which would have probably been louder if she didn't have her sleeping roommate in mind.

Speaking of the older girl…

Even if Vanilla was across the air-conditioned room and it was dark as dark can be, the only source of brightness coming from the moonlight beyond the glass windows, Lune's enhanced eyesight let her see things without too much difficulty. Thus, she discovered that Vanilla hadn't stirred because Lune did, thank goodness. Her breathing was even, her body rising and falling from each even breath. Peaceful.

Lune hoped that her dream was leagues better than hers, at least. Because, honestly, that dream messed the faunus up a fair bit. After calming herself down and stuffing her scroll back under the pillow, Lune sank back down to her bed, closing her eyes as she allowed the remnants of her dream to fill her mind.

She had seen… a world that was not her own. A _setting_ that should have been long forgotten. She saw a beach, filled with smiling people who'd talked to her. People who referred to her with familiar ease. They were a man and a woman with fair skin, and… and they were urging her to join the others by the shore.

Lune smiled fondly as her heart completely returned to its normal beat. Yes, she remembered that happening. She remembered having smiled and nodded, walking towards the little girl and the little boy who were building a sandcastle by the shore. They started laughing when, for the nth time, their creation was destroyed by an unexpectedly large wave. And when she had finally stopped before them, the two children's smiles grew wider. She'd invited them to swim with her because she _loved_ swimming and the water in general…

And that was what Lune remembered most clearly. She knew something else happened after that, but her mind drew a blank now.

 _Ugh_ , she thought with a new scowl as she turned to her side, pulling her blanket over her head. The feeling was still there, though, and for that one moment, Lune Beryl completely believed she was still Amelie Gauthier, spending a day at the beach with her family. She had a mother and a father who might argue at times, but at the end of the day they remembered that their kids mattered a lot more than whatever they ended up fighting about. She had a sweet little sister whose smile could warm even the coldest of hearts, and a rambunctious brother who always enjoyed a good prank or two.

And now that she realized it was nothing but a dream, she felt cheated.

Nearly ten years ago, back when she'd been nothing but a teenager in an infant's body, she'd been convinced that she was _over_ her death. She'd embraced her new life with open arms, hadn't she? She couldn't put back together what was already broken beyond repair. And, she'd had dreams like this before anyway. She never felt like crying then.

But she felt like crying now.

There were certainly no specific way to describe what it was like to have a happy illusion broken. When she had to think about it, back on Earth she would have been dead for ten years now. And when she had to think even deeper, that meant her old family's been living a life without her. The entire puzzle set would be forever missing a piece, and Lune didn't even know how they'd taken the news of her sudden death. She'd never even gotten to see what kind of life they lead with her gone.

And all this time… _all this time_ , she was actually alive as another person with a different family. With different friends, different everything. She'd been happy when her family would have been sad, even if they eventually moved on. It was… kind of unfair. In a sense.

 _Stupid, stupid dream, suddenly giving me issues and stuff_.

Maybe she was just compartmentalizing after she'd been reborn. She'd always done a good job of minding the more important things instead of dwelling on the rest. Then again, she did remember being way more distracted when she was relearning everything and making sense of things, especially after realizing she'd been reborn in Remnant. And now that things have calmed down a bit, with no bullies around to keep her mind on them and no major annoyances so far about the unfair treatment for being someone of a different race, she suddenly had enough room for something else.

She could keep making one guess after another, but they would all come to the same conclusion: she wasn't as over her old life as she'd thought. Curveballs, ugh.

 _And I can_ _'t allow myself to be like this_ , she thought as she fussed in her bed.

She was Lune Beryl now, bunny girl and future badass. Maybe. And she had her classes to focus on in the morning… which, frankly, she wasn't looking forward to because she liked sleeping in whenever she could. She was now a faunus whose goal was to become a Huntress and minimize her chances of dying in a more dangerous world. Not a college girl looking to finally graduate and pay back the kindness and understanding given to her by her parents.

And, okay, as a future Huntress, she also had her obligations to help the world and its people, too, even if they were jerks to people like her. But that was already a given. She would do her duty without complaint.

(Compared to Ruby Rose's reasons of becoming one, though, she had to admit that her own reasons were selfish in comparison. But Lune couldn't help what she thought… Oh well. She was never meant to be a good example in the first place anyway.)

She wasn't who she used to be any more, Lune reminded herself. Amelie was gone, gone, gone. The now was what mattered the most. Her family had surely recovered from the loss by now, and they were probably trying their best to be happy again. It's been ten years since, for God's sake. And, again, she really should go back to sleep. Being awake like this was putting a dent on the amount of time she'd usually spend sleeping. She wasn't about to let some dream get the better of her.

She was going to stop thinking about this whole thing right now. Full stop. She wasn't going to resume it, and if she had to keep compartmentalizing, then so be it. Get knocked down, get right back up.

Lune stilled and closed her eyes, forcing her thoughts elsewhere. Sleep wouldn't come to Lune anytime soon, but when it finally did, it was blessedly a more dreamless one.

* * *

"Um… Lune?"

The faunus stirred, feeling a hand lightly move her shoulder. But she didn't open her eyes just yet. The fog in her mind was still thick, and a part of her refused to let it clear. Lune gave a short grunt instead and moved away from the hand.

"We have classes today, remember? We've got… Intro to Combat, eight in the morning. And then there's our Dust Studies after that, and… yes."

Lune continued ignoring the voice. Sleep. She needed more sleep… and the thought of anything physically active made her want to get out of bed even less. She felt like crap and she didn't want to deal with anything right now.

"It's seven-forty-five now… you're going to be late."

"Just tell the teacher I'm indisposed or something…" Lune mumbled. Something inside her perked up at that fact, but it was still overwhelmed by her desire to stay here and do nothing. "S'not like anyone wants me there, probably…"

"I… uh…" the girl, Vanilla, didn't know what to say. She was at a complete loss as to what she could do. Lune's ears picked up the sound of a faint gulp and a nervous, backward step. "I see. But please get up soon. I'll have to get going now, though—I don't want to be late. Sorry."

Without opening her eyes, Lune outstretched a hand and made a shooing gesture. She heard the sounds of fading footsteps and a door closing soon after.

(Thirty minutes later, it would finally occur to Lune that she indeed had a morning class to attend and she slept in because her dad wasn't there to force her up. The resulting hell as Lune hastily prepared herself while chanting _I_ _'m late, I'm late, I'm late_ like a certain white rabbit in a certain bookwas one to be remembered for the days to come.)

* * *

Lune wasn't expecting a miracle or anything, but somehow she'd still felt deflated upon reaching her classroom and finding her class to be currently in session. She'd stopped right before the door, and if she hadn't been physically fit, she would have been panting and leaning against the wall. Regardless, she'd still perspired, and it didn't help that her pale yellow uniform had to be thick and long-sleeved. She pulled out a handkerchief from her uniform's skirt pocket, dabbing at the beads of sweat rolling down her face.

 _Okay_ , she told herself, straightening up and mustering whatever dignity she had left to carry her through the entire session. She stared at the door intently.

 _Standard protocol, Lune. Open the door slowly, greet the professor if he or she greets you, and make your way to an empty chair as calmly as possible. Don_ _'t keep your head bowed; that just makes you look guilty. And pathetic. Act like normal, and just… fit in so nobody pays too much attention to you. Yeah, you can do this._

Lune steeled herself, placed a hand on the door handle, and pushed. She stepped inside with her neutral expression in place—which involved a half-lidded stare and a relaxed smile—and awaited what she expected would come down from being a tardy student.

No pressure, she thought.

But then her eyes met her teacher's, and whatever calm facade she'd put up started fracturing in places.

"Nice of you to drop by, Beryl. Let me guess, either you got lost along the way, forgot you had a morning class, or you woke up late. Maybe a combination of the three." There was no mistaking that slurred voice from anywhere, if that spiky gray hair and those red eyes weren't enough to indicate who exactly her teacher for the morning was.

"It's more of the latter two, Professor Branwen," Lune admitted calmly. Though on the inside, she was entertaining thoughts of hiding under a rock forever because she had just made a bad first impression in front of Qrow Branwen the Teacher _and_ the entire class. The other kids were even looking at her, oh my God. Vanilla was apologetic and guilty, and Yang was… palming her face. Whatever message the blonde was trying to tell Lune through eye contact afterward was failed to be understood.

Qrow gave Lune an indescribable kind of stare and shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I guess we can't all be punctual. But you're still not making a good first impression here, kid. And I'm not just talking about me."

"I'm aware of that, sir," Lune said. Despite her chill demeanor in play, she was fairly sure she was blushing at this point. The air around her felt hot.

"I can see that you are. Looks like you've lucked out, though, because I'm not really one to be strict about tardiness. Just show your face and prove you've got what it takes to plow through this class, and we won't be having any problems." Qrow said. After Lune's silent nod, he said, "Go on and get seated so I can continue where I left off."

"Right."

Lune ended up sitting herself at the back of the class, on a chair that actually looked pretty haphazard to sit on. Fortunately, it didn't collapse the moment her butt made contact with the wooden surface. Unfortunately, the vandals on the desk attached to it wasn't exactly… of a decent sort. There might even be a piece of dried gum stuck underneath it, if she had to peek. Typical. She mentally sighed in defeat and directed her gaze towards the front of the classroom.

"Well, with Miss Beryl here having just come to class, give me a moment to repeat what I've told you guys earlier. Bear with me," Qrow began. Lune might have sunk down on her seat in embarrassment. Just a bit. "Anyway, just like your handy little timetable says, this class is an introduction to the fine art of combat. If it's somehow not obvious, we'll be doing to be doing a lot of moving. And hitting, striking, whatever you wanna call it. Passing this course basically requires you to perform decently enough in every exercise and examinations. I'm not about to say when they happen; just be ready for them anytime. I know I don't look like much, but I _will_ notice if anyone ends up slacking off in the middle of the class."

Lune could only give a small nod as Qrow's eyes briefly rested on her. Some students seemed to catch onto the implication and snickered, heads turning towards her before swiftly focusing back on the teacher in front.

Committing seppuku suddenly felt like something the faunus wanted to do right now.

"And, obviously, we're not starting this term by beating each other up. Hell, there's a good chance of that not happening anytime soon. You'll get to learn first about handling many different kinds of weapons, as well as a few basic exercises and maneuvers to get you kids on your way to being actual fighters."

Qrow noticed a student who had moved to raised his hand, and apparently, he seemed to know what the person meant to ask because he then said, "And, no, before you ask about the yearly Vale regional tournament, where you get to kick someone's ass for recognition"—he actually scoffed at that—"that's only open to third years and higher. Which actually brings me to what I was meaning to say next."

Another student raised her hand and asked, "That's the one Headmistress Blackthorn wanted you to talk about, isn't it, sir?"

"Bingo. Your super-scary headmistress wants me to tell you hopefuls that you can join in on the fun. The catch is, _we_ get to decide whether you're eligible for entry or not. And the slots are limited, so we can't allow everyone to get the affirmative. As such, you'll be evaluated based on your overall class performance. So try your best to be the best fighters among your class, kids, 'cause that's the only way you have a shot at competing. It should be a given that you already have your own weapons crafted by then. And even more obviously, this'll be included in your transcript. You know what that means."

 _Oh hey, competition_ , basically.

Lune went to consult her timetable and, among the sea of subjects more academic in nature (she still had subjects like science and maths, apparently), she confirmed that she _did_ have a class that involved weapons crafting this term. It was more conceptual than practical, so obviously, she wasn't about to start building up her own in her first year here. But she was pretty sure that her flowchart indicated that she _would_ be having classes that dealt with the construction of one. Kind of like the class Lune had witnessed when she was five.

Baby steps. That's fine.

"So it's like, we'll be competing against each other for the chance to join the regionals," a student beside Lune murmured to his seatmate.

"If we wanna, anyway. D'you think there's going to be some kind of ranking involved?"

The faunus felt inclined to nod as the two boys started talking in soft voices. She wasn't sure if she'll be interested in joining the tournaments herself, but she guessed she had to at least try. Maybe. But considering how she had yet to discover her semblance and master her control over dust… yeaaaaaah, she still had a long road ahead of her.

There was also this one particular thought about that... but she didn't want to think on it. Not now.

"That's it, honestly. If you've got any questions, just come to me after class." Qrow finished, nodding at the students. "So with that aside, let's move on to today's agenda: gauging your skills so I know where to actually start this whole thing. Not everyone has a Huntress or a Huntsman for a parent, right?"

Lune noticed a few nods from some of the students. The ones who entered Signal had surely done their best to be physically fit, as was required. But as Lune had learned, those with Huntsmen as parents tended to have the upper hand because they were trained far more properly and thus knew more about the profession than the average Joe. Which was a boon, in her case. It wasn't like that glaring fact divided the students from each other and made them treat each differently, but everyone knew a skill gap did exist and they just simply didn't act upon it.

(But when it involved a faunus, though… what was equality, right?)

"Alright. Let's go to one of the sparring rooms, then, because unlike your other teachers who will undoubtedly do nothing but introduce themselves and the subject they teach, we're starting something on day one." Qrow said.

No one had the sense to object to that, not after the we're-doing-this-no-matter-what look on the man's face.

This was pretty much everyone's cue to get up, take their things, and make their way towards the sparring room down the hallway. After the students filed out of the classroom until there was practically none left, some giving her weird looks before they did so, he motioned for Lune to come to him. The faunus picked up her bag and strapped it over her shoulder, instantly obeying.

"Yes?" Lune asked.

"I'm pretty sure you've been in a hurry earlier, kid, so you probably didn't realize that you don't have to wear a uniform for this class." Qrow informed her after he watched the last student, Yang, exit the room after nodding at her uncle and at Lune. Her lilac eyes seemed to linger on Lune's feet for a second, but upon realizing that the faunus hadn't caught on to what Yang was indicating, the blonde sighed and walked away.

 _Okay. What_ _'s going on?_ The faunus looked down on her clothes… and promptly considered melting into a puddle.

She couldn't believe how she didn't notice her classmates wearing anything _but_ a uniform. Also, her knee socks were apparently mismatched and that might just take the cake for the most embarrassing thing Lune did for the day. No wonder Yang was looking so bothered. And no wonder the other kids were barely holding themselves back from openly ridiculing her.

"I see." Lune sounded cool and composed. But thanks to her blush, there were no illusions of what emotion she was hiding.

Qrow actually chuckled. "Yeah, I thought so. Don't worry, they'll forget all about it eventually. Kids will be kids." He gestured towards the door with his head. "So enough with the awkwardness, alright? You'll only end up looking worse. Just go on and get changed. You'll probably have… five minutes before I follow the class myself and get started on things."

No wonder Ruby liked the man so much, Lune thought just then. He could make himself seem like a hopeless drunk, but at the end of the day, he was someone… pretty cool in his own way.

"Thirsty, sir?" Lune decided to ask, forcing out a dry tone.

Qrow smirked knowingly. "You know it."

"Right." Lune said, moving towards the door. "I'm just… gonna go. And you didn't see any mismatched socks on me, I hope."

"I'll call it a hallucination," Qrow said, pulling out his flask. "If you claim you didn't find me raring for a drink right now. Idrisa's going to yell at me again if she finds out—and that woman's got one hell of a voice box."

Lune nodded. The deal silently made, she hastily made her way back to her dorm room while the hallways were clear of any students. The last thing she wanted was to make any further embarrassment of herself as the day went on.

It was already bad enough that last night's dream had her feeling like she was on tilt.

* * *

By the time Qrow's class ended, Lune was fairly sure she was going to be sore the next day.

The exercises the man made her and the entire class do, in a word, was _insane_. There were push-ups double the amount that Lune usually did, curl ups, stretches, even a bit of running up and down the stairs because the sparring room was a mini-stadium on its own and it had them. Ugh. Just, ugh. Lune liked to think she was competent in areas concerning physical fitness because of her father's training regimen, but apparently, she would have been ranked in the middle of the entire class because so many others performed way better than her—Yang included. Maybe Vanilla, too, because not once had the shy girl ever complained about the workload.

While they seemed like they could go on much longer, Lune felt like she wanted to lie down and sleep for a millennium. Maybe two.

"It's not that bad," Yang later said as she and Lune entered their next class after a shower and a change into their uniforms. "It's true Uncle Qrow really knows how to _really_ push it, but I can totally see myself doing more of this the next day. I'm all fired up!"

The look Lune gave her was that of tired incredulity as the blonde raised an enthusiastic fist.

"…What?" Yang asked as the faunus dragged her feet towards the chair at the back of the room, seating herself down limply. The blonde promptly took her place beside Lune.

 _Vanilla would probably take the empty chair to my right, then_ , Lune thought idly. That would make the faunus end up squeezed between her friends later on… not that there was any problem with that arrangement. So far, the shy girl had yet to make an appearance after she ducked into the shower rooms, which had happened after Vanilla apologized profusely for saving her own skin by going to class early without her rabbit friend. Geez, Lune would have done the same anyway.

"…Are you sure you're not draining everyone's life energies so you could be happy and active the entire day?" Lune said, several seconds later.

"What, like a vampire? Nah, there's no way," Yang said.

"Okay then," Lune said. She slumped forward on her desk until her chin collided against the piece of wood. Ow. "'Cause honestly? I feel like death."

"Aw, come on, don't be so dramatic," Yang shot back, patting the faunus on the back with a grin. "It's just the first day. Things will get better!"

"I know that. But that doesn't change what I feel _right now_. I can't feel my arms, my legs are on fire, and I think my vision's dimming..." She grimaced. "Ah, death, my old friend."

"Now you're just being dramatic _and_ ridiculous."

She made a dismissive gesture to the blonde without even looking. Or moving the rest of her body. "Oh, shush. Just give me this moment to rest. At least this Introduction to Dust class would be much more relaxing in comparison. It's all reading and writing, and not a single ounce of running. Or flipping. Probably some activities or two involving the Dust themselves, but knowing my aura problem, I'll cross that bridge later."

"…You do know that you're gonna have to slack off even less if you want a shot at joining the Vale tournament, right?"

"Implying I even want to join."

"I'm not about to take no for an answer—oh hey, Vanilla. Lune's over here." Yang would have said more about the tournament, but then she'd noticed Vanilla approaching, her footsteps slow and steady. The older girl stumbled on her own words as she greeted Yang back.

And when Lune finally looked up to greet the girl herself, she found that Vanilla looked pretty… serene, considering what just happened this morning. Not a single strand of hair was sticking out of her braids behind her. Her face wasn't even flushed and, upon noticing the way the faunus was looking at her, Vanilla simply flashed Lune an awkward smile before quietly sitting down on the chair beside the rabbit girl.

Sighing, Lune straightened up from her undignified posture. Looking aside at Vanilla, she asked, "I don't suppose you're just as tired as me after that session?"

Vanilla blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting the question.

"Um, it reminds me of my sister's drills, actually," Vanilla said softly. Sheepishly. "By which I meant I could go on and on and on if need be."

Not her, too. Darn. Lune was pretty sure she could make a storm cloud materialize and hover above her head right now. It'd be nice and dark and thick, raining fat drops over her as it openly announced to the entire world her current mood. And, after seeing _who_ had just entered the classroom and wrote his name on the white board, later turning around to grin at the class who'd promptly gone silent, the rabbit girl came to the conclusion that the world really hated her right now.

"I see we're all in attendance today! That's a good sign, I think. The name's Vert Beryl—Professor Beryl to you students—though you most likely already know that—and welcome to our Dust class!"

After that, things pretty much happened like clockwork. A course syllabus was handed to the entire class, several sheets of stapled paper dictating how the weeks were going to go and what kind of lessons they should look forward to.

Just as Lune predicted, the class really _was_ more academic in nature, with a mid-term, a final examination and some other activities being the basis for her grade. Lectures were a thing, and maybe there might be some recitation involved. Typical school stuff, really. Practical applications would happen in the course of the year, not entirely this term.

Also, fortunately, her dad wasn't going to be the kind of person Lune feared he was going to be with his own spawn in one of his classes. While still retaining his usual, cheerful attitude, the man was actually acting like a professional. He didn't give Lune any kind of special attention. Didn't even make any jokes at her expense like the way most dads did. He just talked about the subject he'll be teaching like the way any teacher would.

In this classroom, Lune was nothing but a student like any other—and he _will_ flunk her if she so much as performed poorly in class. That was one important point Vert Beryl raised as he spoke: anyone who didn't reach the minimum grade requirement would fail.

Okay, so the world _didn_ _'t_ hate her that much, after all.

Just as Lune was starting to completely give her attention to her dad-slash-teacher, a piece of paper was nonchalantly placed on the surface of her desk. She read the contents and the first thing she felt was a a tinge of jealousy. Because even _Yang_ , of all people, had a much prettier handwriting than her.

 _We_ _'ll talk more during lunch break. Look forward to it._

Lune gave her blonde friend an unamused look. Yang really wasn't about to let the faunus ignore the tournament, wasn't she?

* * *

Qrow had been right about the classes during the first day… mostly.

Yeah, Lune's dad simply stopped his session after the students were well-informed of how the class was generally going to go. There weren't any diagnostic tests or the like, just an awkward moment of students introducing themselves to the class, one by one.

Lune managed to go through that without any awkwardness, flashing her classmates a lazy smile and tossing a passive-aggressive remark towards someone whispering about the "stupid bunny girl with mismatched socks" ("If you happen to find a well somewhere, you have my permission to fall into it."). It made her dad raise his eyebrows, but he didn't do anything. Yang, on the other hand, had blown through her introduction with the kind of confidence that could make a crowd go quiet and stare at her all day long, resulting to a good number of students thinking she was a really cool person. Vanilla had stumbled through hers but _somehow_ managed to make _some_ boys think she was cute. Lune heard.

Then they left class with an assigned reading for the next day. Nothing too complex, considering their age. But it was still work, and Lune could feel her laziness threatening to overcome her because all she'd ended up thinking was sleeping the rest of the day away once her classes were over.

Yeah… she could already imagine her family's conversation during dinner time. Dad would poke fun at her having forgotten to read her assignment, and Mom might just end up scolding her.

(It suddenly reminded her of her past life and her _previous_ parents, somehow, because she remembered that her old family liked sharing all sorts of stuff during mealtimes.)

Lune promptly dropped that thought like a piece of hot coal.

Anyway! Right now was their lunch period, and Lune and Yang—and Vanilla, after the faunus found the girl sitting by her lonesome in another table—were currently finishing their own meals amidst the loud chatter filling the large canteen. As Lune finished her own meal that consisted of mostly vegetables, she idly wondered how a Signal Academy food fight happened. More food-tossing and less makeshift weaponry, probably.

"So, now that we've got our chance to talk…" Yang said after she swallowed down the last of her own meal, putting down her fork and knife. "Let's talk."

"Oh, look, there's a dragon Grimm flying outside the window," Lune said in a deadpan voice, not even attempting a _real_ misdirection tactic. "I think his name's Kevin. Kevin says hi."

Vanilla ended up falling for it, though, glancing at the nearby window with widened eyes. She soon realized that Lune was joking and she ended up finding her half-finished meal extremely interesting.

"Gee, if you're going to try distracting me, try harder than that," Yang said, shaking her head. "But seriously, Lune. We should set a goal for ourselves, don'tcha think? I mean, think about it! A tournament where we can show our skills and make our records shine like diamonds. What's not to like?"

"Nothing, I guess," Lune said, leaning back on her chair. She raised her pointing finger as she said, "On one hand, keeping our eyes on the tournament is definitely going to make us to improve in the long run." She then raised her middle finger alongside the other, forming an almost V sign. "On another…" She sighed. "I dunno. I'm not really aiming to be in the spotlight. You, on the other hand, you're practically born to be in it. Besides, I'm pretty sure the training during Professor Branwen's class earlier is enough of an eye-opener. I've got leagues to go before I'm _even_ going to be qualified."

"So what? We've got three years to get ready for it. You can pace yourself well when you really put your mind into it," Yang pointed out.

Yang, admittedly, had a point Lune couldn't rebut. Improving herself tenfold _would_ help her survive through the future Beacon attack. "But—"

"Just give it a shot, will you? Think of it this way: if you trained yourself as hard as you can but still didn't manage to be one of the combatants, you're not really losing anything but an opportunity. We're not looking to win this thing—okay, maybe _I_ _'m_ looking to win this thing, but just like Uncle Qrow said, just participating in the tournament would be enough to add to our records." Yang said in the most convincing tone a girl her age could muster. The blonde shrugged. "Well, _winning_ would be better than just _being_ there, but yeah."

"Um, i-if I may add my thoughts," Vanilla then interjected, clearing her throat. She smiled politely at Lune. "I really don't see why you shouldn't at least try. I, um, have every intention to do my best, too. But if it's not enough… then it's not enough. Don't you want to make your family proud?"

Lune stared at Vanilla, then at Yang. Geez, these two…

If she was going to be honest with herself, Lune wasn't aiming to join the regional tournament because the effort involved would be too bothersome. She knew that some things had to be prioritized over what she really wanted. And, okay, a part of her _was_ still competitive enough that the thought of becoming better than the rest just to secure a goal was an exciting one.

But then, well, when she thought about it, she could end up doing so well that…

That she could end up facing Yang in a real duel someday. Vanilla she was still _ehh_ about because she wasn't that close to the girl, but still. This was the thought that nagged at her during class earlier.

It probably wouldn't mean a lot if she voiced this to the blonde, but here was the truth laid bare: Lune didn't want to end up upstaging Yang.

Sure, you could say that you doubted Lune was going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the blonde anyway and she'd believe it one hundred percent, but the possibility was there; one could never tell what could happen in the course of seven years. So if that possibility became real, she'd feel like she was going against some law of nature. Because, even though she'd been a Remnant girl born and raised, the fact that she wasn't originally one would always come to mind.

Okay, she was going to put it bluntly: if this entire world was a stage, she wasn't supposed to be one of the actors involved. She wouldn't even be part of the cleanup crew.

It was already enough of a fluke that she was here, that she was friends with Yang and Ruby and was going through her second life the best way she could. Lucky enough that out of millions and millions of people on Earth, she was chosen to end up _here_. She felt like there was some unwritten law that she should forever stay in the shadows of the people who'd be, in another world, considered as the leading actors or actresses of this particular play.

She wasn't looking forward to find out what would happen if she stepped past that red line separating her from them. It scared her.

"Geez," Lune mumbled as she crossed her arms. "You guys really know how to convince me."

"It won't be so bad," Yang said, grinning. "Whatever happens, happens. You could kick my butt and I'll be okay with it."

Easy for her to say. To Lune, it really was more complex than that. "Yeah right. I'm just asking to be murdered the moment I accidentally pull off a few strands of your hair or something."

"My hair is my treasure. God have mercy on the poor bastard who messes with it." Yang said, stroking her hair fondly. "So, will you _please_ think of joining this tournament with me?"

...On the other hand, she was here now. Nothing would change that, no matter how much her dreams would reveal how much she really missed her old life. It probably wasn't doing her sanity any good if she had to keep holding herself back just for the sake of not pissing off whatever was watching her right now. And then there was the fact that her option to stay as far away from the "canon" had been long since shot to hell, even though what had happened wasn't exactly her doing.

 _Maybe what I need to do is a balancing act_ , Lune thought. Make compromise of sorts. Might as well appease the powers that be, right?

"Ugh, fine. I'll try my best, but don't expect excellence," Lune said, finally caving in.

"That's more like it!" Yang said, and her smile became just a hundred watts brighter. "It'll be fun. If there's one kind of opponent I'd want to end up facing, it's you."

Lune could only offer an uncertain smile at that one.

Well, whatever. Like she'd said before, only time would tell. For now, she'd rather focus on not flunking any of her subjects—especially the academic ones.

* * *

 **A/N:** One week of thesis-focusing and much studying later, I finally completed this chapter. About damn time, honestly. I'll probably proofread this again in the next couple of days; I've got one last research paper to finish and I just wanted this chapter uploaded instead of delayed.

So, anyway, that became a thing. I mean, if Mistral had its own regional tournament, Vale could too, right? I thought I'd make the Signal arc of this story a bit more interesting. Though I wish I could get to doing some action scenes soon; I need the practice because that's, like, something I'm pretty weak at. Nothing too character-focused this chapter, unfortunately.

Anyway, thank you, as usual, for those who reviewed, followed, and faved my story! You guys are awesome.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Days, weeks, months… if Lune were to be honest with herself, she'd found them passing by her without doing so much as pausing to stop and wave.

It was like, for one moment she felt as if she could whine about all the workload piled on top of her. Despite her constant self-reassurances that things will get better, that the sun would shine and the big, bad raincloud would finally go away and bother someone else, the first half of the school year had involved much more academic-related stuff than she would have liked.

Most of them were things she already knew, like science and math and all other _fun_ stuff. But even if some of those subjects were actually interesting because they involved the basics of combat, Remnant history, or the usage of dust in daily life and etcetera, etcetera, there were plenty enough aspects of it that would have made her cry if she was of the crying sort. Honestly, it was fascinating to learn the first time that a person could make a weapon out of this or that (forks, anyone?). But to then learn how useful it was in general, and to go on and on about what made it viable in combating the Grimm, what materials it was constructed with and blah, blah, blah… it was like high school all over again.

And here she thought she'd had enough of that in her past life.

Then for another moment, a couple of months had already passed.

Here was Lune now, in Qrow's— _Professor_ Qrow, really, but the guy was just so informal that she mentally referred to him as just plain Qrow every time—combat class and applying what she'd learned so far. Nearly half the year was already down the drain, and her lessons in this class had included some basic maneuvers that she'd taken her time mastering, some introductory lessons involving weapons like sword-swinging or arrow-shooting, and some semblance training because nobody had a good handle on them yet.

Not that she'd discovered hers so far. Unfair, really, because nearly everyone in her class already had theirs.

"Head in the game, Lune! Come on, let's get this started." Yang said loudly from across the sparring room. Her voice had effectively shoved Lune out of her reverie.

The faunus blinked, regarding the blonde. Other than the fact that Yang was shifting her weight from one foot to another, she was also decked in a simple shirt and shorts, brown being the predominant color. Her hair was loose today, and to be honest, Lune felt kind of awed how the blonde managed to fight without getting annoyed with those thick, shining locks. Lune's own hair tended to get in the way when she was continuously moving, and it was actually pretty hard to fix her hair in a way that complemented her loppy rabbit ears, too.

…Did she also mention she was currently in a sparring match with _Yang Xiao Long_ today as her quiz of sorts? She was inside one of Signal Academy's sparring rooms, a rather plain—though large—area that could be split into several sections where several pairs of fighters could spar with each other in comfort. At the moment, however, all students present were doing anything but that; they were all grouped together, watching the faunus and the blonde with interest. Mostly because they were excited about watching Yang kick ass.

 _Love you too_ , Lune had thought when she found that out. But then, Yang was just the kind of person anyone could like. The bad puns were a part of her charm, too.

"Oops, sorry. I spaced out again, didn't I?" Lune said. She yawned and rolled her shoulders, sheepishly smiling at Yang. On the other hand, she had opted for an attire almost similar to the other girl, her white hair tied into a braid behind her.

…Yes, _almost_ , because Lune wore a shirt with long sleeves for reasons none other than just because. No hate, please.

"You really should stop doing that. At the rate you're going, you really _will_ end up on the moon." Yang told her.

Lune shrugged. "I'll tell you all about my stay there when it happens."

Yang rolled her eyes.

Anyway, Lune already knew how this was going to turn out. But what the hey, Yang wasn't going to let her hear the end of it if she didn't give a simple sparring match her one hundred percent.

(Simple, pffft.)

"Ladies, less talking, more fighting. I've got a quiz to grade—and it's not just yours," Qrow reminded them bluntly. The man was playing the part of a referee and was thus standing at the side of the sparring area. "Just remember that whoever wins won't be graded the highest. Instead, I'll be judging your performance. I'm expecting you to do better this time, Beryl. You're smart, but you have to be more than that to beat your opponents."

Some snickers all around. The sound easily reached Lune's ears.

The images that flashed across Lune's mind made it worse—images of the faunus getting her butt kicked in the most embarrassing of ways. There weren't that plenty and she _thought_ she was at least competent enough not to fall behind (or else her dad would never let her hear the end of it), but… on the moments that _she_ lost a fight, whether it was a simple target practice or a punching session, it happened in a way so attention-grabbing that anyone would have difficulty forgetting it.

She'd worked harder ever since, but her classmates seemed to out-pace her every time. She was good, just that everyone always ended up being _better_.

She knew she'd been awesome when it came to just hitting a practice dummy now. She could hit her targets and swing a practice weapon the way she'd been taught to. Could position her feet the right way so she didn't stumble, could make use of her crazy awesome reflexes and dodge projectiles like crazy. Just like Dad taught her, thanks to his crazy exercises. And, depending on whom Qrow decided to match her with when it was time to apply what had been taught, she'd won her own small share of matches.

But then she mostly had the luck of being matched against the better students, which meant she lost more than she won—if that hadn't been obvious enough.

The perks of being a reincarnated person could only be so many, okay? Knowing how to fight and win wasn't one of them. At her current, self-evaluated skill level, she was doing better than Amelie probably would. Maybe. But seriously, she really should have taken a taekwondo class from the World Before. Or judo.

But here she was, getting off-track again, and she best stop here and focus on the present.

Shoving those awkward memories away from her mind, Lune fought the urge to visibly wince and settled for a twitching left hand. "I'll try."

"You better!" Yang said. Seeing that Lune finally had her head in the game… mostly… Yang took on a combat stance that resembled a boxer's.

Lune sighed inwardly and took on a lazy battle stance of her own. She hadn't decided yet on how she wanted to present herself before a fight like this, so better she looked lazy than awkward. Besides, the overall image would've looked more complete if she had her signature weapon with her.

Qrow glanced briefly at Yang, and then at Lune. With a nonchalant shrug, he took a step back and said, "Seeing as you two are ready… begin."

Yang was upon Lune at once, having dashed forward the moment Qrow finished his sentence. The punch Yang meant to aim at the faunus' stomach would have smarted if Lune's rabbit reflexes didn't come into play. Thank goodness. She managed to twirl out of the way just in time and leaped back, unable to counterattack as Yang quickly recovered from her missed punch. Yang wasn't about to let Lune score a hit, so the faunus thought, better safe than sorry. She watched Yang charge at her again.

Lune remained on the defensive and continued avoiding the blonde's flurry of punches and kicks that promised suffering should she get herself hit. Yang was so relentless, Lune couldn't find her window of opportunity—her friend was just _that_ good and all Lune could do was weave in and out of Yang's punches. Yeah, even if the lilac-eyed ten-year-old girl was yet to be the polished gemstone she would be when she turned seventeen; her movements not as smooth as Lune had remembered.

As Lune continually failed to find her opportunity to attack, she couldn't help but think how ridiculously strong Yang's semblance was in general, too. Like, how could she even think of hitting the blonde if it only meant her getting stronger every time—

Oh, darn, close call.

The rabbit girl had backflipped as Yang managed to get close and performed a spinning kick, narrowly avoiding what would have _really_ hurt her chest. Aura prevented injuries, alright, but the sensation of pain would still be there. Just more noticeably muted so as not to hinder in combat.

Heck, Lune _so_ didn't want remember how, every time, she had to override her body's instincts of avoiding any kinds of pain as much as possible. It was hard to make her body believe that a slash from a pointy sword wouldn't result in a nasty flesh wound because her aura existed and it was one heckuva force field—

"Gah!" Lune went flying when one of Yang's punches finally connected. She got hit right in the gut and felt like a deflated balloon, but she didn't end up sprawling awkwardly on the ground. Just like she'd been trained to do, Lune managed to flip her body midair and land into a crouch. Nice and feline, which was funny because she was technically a rabbit. She'd skidded backwards before she finally grew still.

"Come on, aren't you going to fight back?" Yang said as Lune shook off the brief ache, warily regarding her friend as she straightened up. The two ended up circling each other. "You're not exactly getting a lot of points for being on the defensive, never mind if your aura pool's large enough to make you last _that_ long."

"You're not exactly giving me an opening, either." Lune shot back dryly, eyes never leaving Yang. _That, and you_ _'re just leagues better than me._

"Neither will your real opponents in a real tournament. So you better up your game!"

"…Point." Lune said reluctantly.

From the background, Qrow idly added, "Either you attempt to do a single hit, kid, or you don't get a decent grade for this exercise. A defensive strategy is fine and all, but you've yet to even whittle down Yang's aura."

Lune kind of wanted to scream out that she was trying her best here. It wasn't her fault she was pitted against someone who could easily wipe the floor with her if Lune went on the offensive all willy-nilly.

She didn't get the opportunity to say anything else, anyway, not when Yang shook her head and decided to continue what she'd been doing: performing straightforward punches that definitely reassured Lune that the girl was getting Ember Celica in the future. But several avoided attacks later, her opening finally came.

Deciding that there was no time like the present, Lune spun on her heel and immediately shot her leg forward to do a kick. But then—

No, she was wrong. It wasn't an opening. Yang fooled her into doing that, and with _Lune_ now more vulnerable than before, the blonde had no trouble _grabbing_ her foot. Lune didn't even manage to gasp in surprise when the blonde then let it go, stepped close, spun on her heel and raised a leg, dropping it on top of the unfortunate faunus with the force of stampeding elephant Grimm. The way Lune hit— _cracked_ _—_ the floor made the other students wince.

The entire spar pretty much went downhill after that.

* * *

By the fifth month mark, the first years' class rankings were as follows: out of forty-five, the top ten were dominated by a handful of students Lune wasn't all too familiar with—that is, except for Yang, who'd managed to snag ninth place. As Yang was an exceptional fighter, Lune wasn't all that surprised… so long as the blonde wasn't being overconfident or overeager during her spars, anyway, because that was mostly the reason why she didn't rank any higher.

It was also of note that Yang was actually pretty decent in her academics, too, though anything of the sort wasn't really much of an influence towards a student's overall class standing. Just a small percentage, enough to make known to a teacher whether a student's been keeping up with his studies while training for both a future spot on the Huntsmen academies or qualifying for the local tournament.

'Sides, at the end of the day, this was a combat school. Anything combat-related would be prioritized while still making sure that every aspiring Huntsman would at _least_ not grow to be dumb as a rock.

As Lune went over the rankings she'd downloaded into her scroll, sitting cross-legged on her bed inside the dorm room _and_ feeling sore from the beatdown Yang gave her earlier in the day, she realized that the top ten included another familiar name. Her eyebrows raised.

Whoopsie-daisy, she didn't mean to miss that. Though it did accurately describe Vanilla Blackthorn, who'd been usually so quiet and reserved that she _was_ easily missed.

Not so much during combat class, as Lune had found out.

When the faunus had to go over her recent memories of her stay in Signal, she concluded that Vanilla did deserve placing tenth on the rankings. The girl wasn't a prodigy, but she sure as hell got really close to being one when pressed. Lune recalled one moment when the shy girl was a natural at archery and shone like a beacon during class with Qrow supervising, shooting bull's eye upon bull's eye with enough consistency to make the dark-haired drunkard whistle, impressed.

And, while the cream-haired girl tended to twiddle her thumbs and stutter when talking to anyone, during an actual fight her actions were anything but shy as the twelve-year-old fought with well-placed strikes and graceful maneuvers. Vanilla didn't hit hard like Yang or dodge like a maniac like Lune would, but she was accurate. And perceptive; most of the time, she could tell where her opponent was going to hit next and respond accordingly.

Of course, she was still flawed, just like everyone else. She had her own share of wrong judgments. Just like that one time when her opponent managed to confuse the poor girl and strike where Vanilla least expected.

Lune, on the other hand…

After being reminded of her current ranking, the faunus puffed her cheeks and pouted.

Okay, so she wasn't anywhere near Vanilla's or Yang's rankings... or skill level. But! She was fit as a fiddle and could give people a run for their money during exercises. Sometimes. And for someone with no prior experience in combat other than what she'd been taught by her dad and Qrow (so far), she'd done pretty fine. Not spectacularly, but not terribly, either.

She'd ranked 20th, didn't she? It wasn't Jaune Arc levels of bad (no offense to the guy she hadn't even met), but then…

She wasn't impressing anyone, either. She knew that she couldn't please everyone, but it sucked that she wasn't as skilled as she'd hoped to be.

"Kid, I've heard from Yang that you're thinking of getting into the tournament like her," Qrow had said several hours ago, just after class ended and everyone's current rankings were projected on the white board. "You haven't done so bad, but if you don't step up your game sometime in the future, the tournament's going to be nothing but a dream. I'd like to think that seven years is a long time, but believe me when I say that that amount of time flies fast once you've gone deep into your studies here."

Basically, if she was too lax she'd lose the opportunity to be in the tournament. She hadn't been too keen on the idea of being there before, but now… now that her mind was set on it, it was difficult to change her decision. It didn't help that it sparked the competitiveness in her.

…Okay, so maybe she _did_ want to be in the tournament, after all.

But here was reality, slapping her in the face. How could she even do that when she felt like there were so many she hadn't accomplished yet? The creation of her own personal weapon, her atrocious control over dust, even if she _had_ improved over the months… and her semblance…

 _Huh. What will my semblance be, anyway?_

The card scanner beeped before the door it was stuck on swung open, interrupting Lune's thoughts. She blinked, looking up from her scroll. Green eyes then met violet, bespectacled ones, and Vanilla offered Lune a polite smile before placing on her study table a stack of books she'd been carrying for who knew how long.

"Had a trip to the library, I see," Lune said idly, shutting down her scroll and stuffing the thing underneath her pillow.

"I wanted to study some things in advance." She blurted out. "And um, well, we have a lot of homework, don't we? I've been doing bits and pieces of it for the past few days, but I've barely scratched the surface." She then plopped down on her chair. The girl was more relaxed around Lune now, but they hadn't exactly bonded enough to step into best friend territory just yet. Lune wanted to fix that, she did, but she didn't really know what wouldn't make the older girl run away, screaming.

"Oh, god, don't remind me," Lune grimaced, now thinking about her own little pile of homework, too. "For a combat school, we sure are getting a lot of non-combat-relatedhomework."

"Idrisa—the headmistress, I mean—did say that she's balancing out the academic side of Signal as best as she could. We won't be learning as much as we would in a civilian school, but… at least we're not growing up ignorant." Vanilla said, toying with her bracelet as she did so. "It's not so bad, if you ask me…"

"Doesn't mean I like it that much, though," Lune said. _Mostly because it_ _'s all a repeat of what I already know_.

"Right…" Vanilla said. She merely gave Lune another polite smile before looking away, not knowing what to say anymore. Lune had managed to catch a thoughtful expression on the other girl's face before she did so.

Silence then ensued, with Vanilla distractedly sorting out her books and Lune making frowny faces at the notebooks she'd pulled out of her backpack. A blue pen soon accompanied it, and she flipped open a blue-covered one that mostly contained subjects pertaining to general education. Dealing with her academics should be a breeze since these were stuff Lune already knew, but that fact didn't make the whole activity any less boring or mind-numbing. Here she thought she'd had enough of that in civilian school, but apparently she was wrong—

"Do you need help with combat training?" Vanilla blurted out several minutes later, unable to take anymore what she'd appeared to be mulling in her thoughts.

Lune lowered her notebook. While she was more than happy to be distracted, the older girl's question kind of surprised her. "Say what now?"

"C-combat training." She repeated with a stutter. "I-I mean, it's not that you're bad and all, since I could see you becoming really good if you put your mind into it and I bet you could really impress our teachers when you do…" She toyed with her bracelet again as she worked through the words she wanted to say. "But I was thinking, since you've been so nice to me even if I made known that I don't exactly approve of everything you do like your unwillingness to do work or your falling asleep in class—"

"Rambling's worsened," Lune calmly cut in, not the least offended.

Vanilla blinked, blushed, cleared her throat, and tried again. "…I just thought that maybe I can train with you on our spare time. As paying you back for your kindness, that is. And, ah, so you'd improve your class standing and heighten your chance of being in the tournament someday. Is that a bad suggestion?"

Lune stared at the girl before shrugging. "No, it's not. But why the sudden offer?"

The violet-eyed girl took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I've seen the way you looked after finding out your current rank in our class. You know, before we left our combat class," Vanilla quietly said, not meeting the faunus' eyes. Lune froze momentarily, surprised that someone managed to notice the subtle shift in her expression earlier. "And, um, I know not a good feeling to have, so I thought you shouldn't experience what I've experienced before. I mean, you must be trying your best, and to find out that it's not good enough… it's a blow to your self-esteem, isn't it?"

A distant, bittersweet look crossed Vanilla's features as she seemed to recall her own experiences.

No kidding. Lune was still familiar with the feeling, even if those kind of experiences literally were a life away now and all it did was make her feel a faint pang in her heart.

(And at the same time, she suddenly remembered her old family's support during some particularly rough times. She missed them—no, _stop_.)

"Well, that's kind of up in the air right now, but I get what you're saying." Lune said, inwardly wiping off the memories that rushed at her without warning.

Vanilla relaxed at that, smiling in relief. "That's good. But, well, it's that, and I really want to do something for you this time," Vanilla said. "My sister forced me onto you and all… and I don't want to feel like a burden to you."

"I've said it's okay, though, and this isn't the first time you've told me that," Lune said with a kind smile. "I didn't mind then, I sure as hell don't mind now. We just need to… spend more time as actual friends, is all. You know, seal the deal and all? Because I'm going to be blunt here: we haven't exactly done much beyond simple hi's and hello's and the occasional small talk. Like, we see each other during class and during lunch, but when I'm in the room… you're not, and vice versa."

"Oh. That's true…" The older girl said. Seconds later, she blinked, realized something, and straightened up. "Oh! I have an idea. Now that you've mentioned it, maybe training time can double as bonding time? If you want, that is. You can say no."

That was probably Vanilla-speak for I-want-to-get-to-know-you-better-but-I-don't-really-know-how. Lune found it kind of cute—and the girl did have a point. It was the best way to spend some time with her roommate and get to know her better, right? Yes, she'd definitely made up her mind now. The smile she offered the older girl was brighter than before.

"Well, that's not a bad idea. Hey, maybe we could end up finding out what my semblance is in the long run. I'm thinking it'll help me progress better when I finally have _that_ out of the way." Lune said. "Yours is… invisibility, right?"

"Temporary invisibility… yes," Vanilla answered. To support her answer, she _literally_ faded before the faunus' eyes before reappearing again. "I don't know how my aura does it, but as my sister put it, I kind of end up bending light away from me until I'm hidden. I can't stay that way for long, though. It's like cupping water with your hands. If I do it longer, my aura weakens." Vanilla seemed more like she was disappointed at that glaring flaw, offering an empty smile as she made a helpless gesture with her hands.

"Hey, think of it this way: it keeps you flawed. Perfection's boring," Lune grinned, making the other girl relax even more at the acceptance. "So, training together it is, then."

"I'll set the time and place," Vanilla said. And then she caught sight of her books and offered Lune a sheepish expression. "…After we deal with our homework this week. Oh, and our exams are coming up soon, but I think we can squeeze some sparring sessions outside of class."

Lune ended up glancing down on her own notebook, as well, the object open to a page where all her tasks were written in an untidy scrawl. At the bottom of the page were the underlined words _exams by the end of the semester_.

She made a face again, reminded of what she needed to deal with today. Yang's lucky, she thought; the girl had most likely done hers already so she could go hang out with her other friends. Lune kind of wished she could do the same, but no, she let all her schoolwork pile up and now was as good a time as any to play catch up. Now all her fellow faunus acquaintances would just have to hang out without her.

As it was, though, there was homework to deal with. Social interaction could wait.

"…Right."

* * *

Vanilla had proposed to do some training together during the weekend, so when Saturday came to kick Friday out of the door, the two girls had found themselves on the relatively large clearing behind Lune's house with the entire afternoon to make use of.

Why train there when Signal Academy had a crapton of sparring rooms accessible to its students, you ask? Other than the fact that those were usually filled to the brim with upperclassmen and making use of one would require asking permission _and_ setting a schedule… Lune preferred training out in the open. Simple as that. Signal Academy's sparring rooms were large and ventilated enough, thanks to its windows, but that was it—the only source of air came from there. She always felt stuffy and suffocated at the end of a training session.

Especially when she was dripping with sweat.

…And, okay, if she really had to admit it, she always went home during the weekends because her home was that close to the academy. She'll pull her rabbit ears off if that changed anytime soon.

"You kids go on and have fun," River Beryl said, moments after greeting the girls when they've arrived in front of the Beryl residence. She'd accompanied them towards the back of the house while chatting a fair bit with Vanilla. Now, the woman was standing by the back door, a hand on the knob. "I'll be inside if you need me. Just give a holler."

"I'll use a megaphone if I have to," Lune said. That earned a wry grin from her mother. And a hair ruffling that resulted to a small, surprised squeak of protest.

River was completely ignorant of the pout sent her way as Lune fixed up her now messy hair, turning towards the shy girl with a smile on her face. "And you, Vanilla, make yourself at home, 'kay? Lune's friends are always welcome here. God knows she doesn't enough of them." Her blue eyes were alight with mischief as she added, "If my little girl ends up falling asleep, though, feel free to kick her awake. Trust me, that's the only method that works."

Vanilla could only smile awkwardly back at that comment, unsure what to say to such a statement.

Lune stuck a tongue out at her mom. Obviously, River didn't really mean that and Lune was used to it. But still, that didn't stop her from pretending to take offense, saying as she crossed her arms, "You're a good role model to mothers every where. I hope you realize that."

"Hey, I'm not the one looking to win awards for Mom of the Year," River shot back. She then pushed the door open. "But seriously, if anything comes up, I'm here to help. Oh, and the moment your ears pick up some strange noises, don't even try investigating it. Could be a Grimm, and I have no illusions that two kids are able to handle that by themselves. Cats aren't the only things killed by curiosity."

"Noted," Lune responded, looking as if she'd merely been told what weather to expect today. "Anything else?"

"Nah. I just thought you both should know. Those bastards don't really come anywhere near here, but better safe than sorry, yeah?" Her mom said. She shot Vanilla a sweet smile before turning away and going back inside, humming a tune she'd no doubt heard from the radio.

The two girls were now left to their own devices, with Vanilla staring at the closed door several feet behind Lune, her expression easily described as stunned from the presence of River Beryl. She looked to be processing what had just transpired for the past few seconds and, seeing this, the corner of Lune's mouth twitched into an amused smile.

Lune then crossed her arms behind her head and walked forward, briefly relishing the calm atmosphere the location provided.

Today seemed to be a good day, and it was always nice to be back in the comforts of her home. In a place where the noises were limited to the rustling leaves, the chirping birds, and the occasional singing cricket during the night... her home was a good one. No honking cars, shouting neighbors, machinery sounds, nothing. She'd remembered being a city girl in a past life, and as it had turned out, she'd much preferred being _away_ from the hustle and bustle of the big city. The quiet suited her, she'd realized. She used to think that living in an island like this was lame. Lame and boring.

She was glad to be wrong.

"Um…" Vanilla began, returning Lune to the present. She noticed the older girl now glancing at a nearby flowerbed with admiration. "Did your mom plant all these flowers?"

Lune let her hands fall to her sides and she cast a glance at the vibrant flowers. Now that Vanilla mentioned it, there were indeed a lot of flora within the vicinity. And Lune wasn't surprised. Most of them were wild and simply left alone to sprout wherever they wanted, but there were still plenty enough of them that revealed how they were the handiwork of River Beryl. _Those_ were planted in a neat row, organized by type—and color.

Yup, Lune's mom might not be the gentlest mother or the nicest person out there, but she always had a knack for gardening. Lune bet the woman could grow anything through sheer force of will.

"My mom has a green thumb," Lune explained, squatting down and letting her fingers caress a daisy. She then stood back up, grinning. "Neat, huh?"

"Yes, it is," Vanilla said. A guilty look crossed her face as she added, "I think my sister would end up wilting a plant if she ever tried something like this. She's, um, more likely to break something than anything else."

"Remind me never to get on her bad side then." Lune could almost imagine how _that_ would go down. Deciding that now was a good time to do what both girls came here for and Vanilla obviously didn't know how to broach the subject, Lune put a stop to that line of thought and said, "Anyway, wanna start the training? We can chat as we work through the movements."

Vanilla blinked, as if having momentarily forgotten that there was a reason she was here with Lune. The flowers—and River Beryl—apparently got her distracted enough for that to happen. The older girl flushed slightly and managed a weak nod. "Right…"

The two girls proceeded to do just that, starting with a round of warm-up exercises before moving onto performing the basic movements and stances taught to them during their combat class. This was the portion that Vanilla had decided to take the lead on, and after instructing the faunus to repeat the movements so she could observe Lune critically, the cream-haired girl had formed her first assessment half an hour later.

"Your stances are fine, and so are the moves Professor Branwen taught us," Vanilla said softly as Lune paused to wipe some sweat on her brow, having finished a round of branch-swinging. Sometime earlier, Vanilla had found that particular piece of wood and had handed it to the faunus as her makeshift weapon. "Which means that you're fine in that department. So, judging from the fight with Yang earlier in the week…" Vanilla tilted her head at Lune, eyes slightly narrowed as she seemed to recall what had transpired during that particular day. For that one moment, the girl looked like a different person. She returned to being shy after she realized what she'd just did, awkwardly tugging at her braid. "Um, other than a case of being matched against classmates a lot better than you… you're actually decent. Y-you just need to be more offensive."

"Darn. I figured that was the case," Lune said, sighing and sitting down on the grass, legs stretched out. "I'm aware I'm not the best fighter out there, but honestly, I really wonder how you guys manage to just…" She gestured with her hand. "Do things when you're fighting."

"Oh?"

"Like, when your opponent's about to punch you, how do you realize it's just a fake move when you're actually going to get a kick in the stomach or something? And how do you react accordingly?" Lune asked. "I'm good at dodging things and Qrow's done a really good job at teaching us combat. But for me… fighting back, knowing where to hit so I can turn the tables… I admit, I'm not spectacular in that department. I'm trying my hardest, but combat is like… wow."

Vanilla nodded in understanding. "We all have our flaws… but as I've said before, I'll help you out. Am I incorrect in saying that you're not all that used to combat yet? Getting creative, thinking outside the box, and surprising your opponent?"

"I could lie and say I'm getting there, but honestly… you're not wrong," Lune said. "It probably wouldn't matter much if we're fighting Grimm, but…" She shrugged. "I dunno. I've still got six more years of stay here along with you and Yang. That's plenty enough time to improve. Not gonna lie, though, right now I feel like nothing but a disappointment."

It… was true. There was just something about the girl in front of her that had Lune feeling that it was okay to let off a bit of steam. The rational, more grown-up part of her would understand that this was something she'll have to get it over with eventually, but right now, she felt what she'd felt. She could only deny so much.

In fact, Vanilla had been right when she said she'd noticed how crushed Lune looked after finding out the current rankings. Even if the faunus had already experienced something similar in a past life, it turned out that it didn't help her deal with that dratted negative feeling any easier.

Aw, gee darn it. Now she just felt sad, and she couldn't stop herself from frowning.

Vanilla moved to sit beside Lune and rest her legs. "That's… a been there, done that situation for me. I completely sympathize." Vanilla glanced skyward, sighing. "I confess, being the headmistress' sister… people couldn't help but think that I should also be as skilled as her by default. I'm—I'm not, you know that. I think Yang does, too. But whenever I notice the look of surprise from our classmates' faces after I do badly in something I'm expected to be good at, I can't help but feel the same way you did. It's… hard, so hard to keep doing my best so they don't look at me that way."

Lune could only listen, not entirely sure what to say to that one. Right, of course her own problems weren't the worst ones out there.

"And sometimes? The pressure gets to me so bad, it's like… I'd rather stay in bed all day." Vanilla continued. She shut her eyes, seemingly feeling the breeze against her face. A gentle smile stretched on her lips. "But despite that… I keep trying, anyway. That's—that's why I managed to be one of the top ten in our class. Idrisa's taught me that I shouldn't give up no matter what, and…" She reddened slightly. "And she'd even said, s-screw those people who think I'm supposed to be anything like her. I'm _supposed_ to be my own person.

"W-what I'm basically saying is, Lune, you might think you're disappointing someone, but _I_ think that if you've done your best, then you've done your best. You might feel down now, but eventually you'll just get right back up and continue where you left off. If Yang _is_ disappointed, I'm certain she'll understand. She seems like a good person. And as I've said before, I'll help you out. We're friends, right?"

When the older girl finished, Lune didn't really know what to do other than staring at the normally shy girl.

It wasn't that Lune completely didn't expect anything like that for someone who was the sister of Signal Academy's head, but hearing it firsthand from Vanilla kind of made things feel more real. No wonder why, at times, Lune had noticed Vanilla to be trying _too_ hard when it came to the exercises in not just their combat classes, but also with their other subjects. And when she'd failed, the girl had simply sighed, shook her head, and went on with her business. Vanilla might be shy and a bit wary of new people, but she was anything but weak.

She should do the same, honestly.

"…I guess it's true when they say that the older you are, the wiser you get." Lune finally said, wryly. "Alright, you've made your point. And yes, of course we're friends. And believe me, I appreciate the pep talk. You really know how to raise someone's spirits, you know?"

Vanilla blushed. "Oh, c-come on, Lune, don't flatter me."

Lune stuck a tongue out at her. "Hey, I was being honest here. So, since you're so willing to help me out, I should do the same."

"Um… how?"

"Well, it's been established that you're generally awkward around people. Maybe I can help you with that."

"I… see."

"Anyway, that's food for thought for now. In any case, I'm thinking break time's over"—Lune then stood up, stretching and yawning—"we've got some more training to do."

Vanilla blinked before nodding, standing up and patting away some bits of grass and dirt that stuck to the back of her clothes. "Right! So I suppose you want some tips for combat? I was thinking that, um, we ought to see which weapon suits you best so we can narrow down what kind of fighting you're most comfortable with… Oh! And we know you're quite agile, thanks to your being a faunus, so I-I think we're off to a good start."

"Well, you're the teacher here. I'll do as you say." Lune gave the other girl a salute, making Vanilla giggle softly. "Afterward, though, we've got a batch of cookies waiting inside. Nothing like a nice treat after all that hard work, right?"

"Cookies would be very nice, yes."

* * *

The weekend was pretty much spent with Lune and Vanilla training and getting to know each other more, in no particular order. Vanilla had come to learn that Lune was apparently good at drawing but poor at making her writing legible, among other things, and Lune had learned that the girl had a penchant for anything that seemed magical, like in one of those comics the girl was apparently a fan of.

That was actually the reason why Vanilla had confessed that she enjoyed learning of dust and using it; she'd said it was practically magical when a ball of flame or a shard of ice materialized in thin air. Though of course, both were aware that magic didn't exist—well, mostly Vanilla as Lune knew that wasn't the case with the whole maidens thing—but! The illusion was there, and it was good enough for the shy girl.

Eventually, Monday came back to terrorize the Signal students, and both girls had attended all their classes and paid extra attention to the lessons until the bell rang and signaled that it was lunch time. This time, Vanilla hadn't sat all by her lonesome by the table she'd picked. She ended up looking at the faunus, surprised, as the faunus suddenly placed her food-filled tray beside the other girl's as her way of saying she was eating lunch with Vanilla, grinning as she did so. Yang had later joined the two on their table after spending some time with her other friends, and the minutes ticked by as the three classmates chatted about things ranging from their recent homework to the approaching finals.

Things had been uneventful—until one student walked towards their table with a sneer sent towards the surprised Vanilla. He didn't stop looking at her, as if quietly prompting her to speak.

"Can I help you?" Vanilla asked softly.

The student—their classmate—shrugged. He said, "Actually, yeah. I have no idea how else I'm going to put this, but basically… you can help me by dropping out of the top ten rankings."

Vanilla blinked. Yang looked to have not expected that, slowly realizing how _wrong_ the guy sounded, and Lune had started regarding the boy with a dubious expression.

"Um… why?"

"Because I'm thinking you don't really have much to prove to everyone. You're the headmistress' sister, aren'tcha? That's enough of a reputation to have for the years to come. Why not give a chance to those who deserve some kind of recognition? It's not like you'll last long in the real tournament, anyway—hell, I'm not above thinking you only got in _because_ you're who we know you to be."

"Well, excuse me, mister," Lune couldn't help but say, lowering the carrot stick she'd taken a bite of and raising an eyebrow at the rude kid. "But I'm pretty sure Vani here got her current class standing because she's been working so hard to be in it. I don't see you griping about Yang when her dad happens to be the teacher."

Lune was pretty sure the boy knew she was there, but the way he regarded her made it seem like he'd just noticed her there for the first time. The look sent towards the faunus' way was a condescending one. "Apparently being the kid of another teacher wasn't enough to get _you_ in the rankings, loser." He shrugged. "Then again, it's not like the rankings even need a faunus dirtying up the list."

The rabbit girl was barely offended, having grown immune to those kind of barbs. But to Vanilla—and Yang, to an extent—the statement had been very offensive. "Y-you leave her out of this!"

"You might wanna listen, bud, 'cause if you're messing with my friend, you're messing with me," Yang warned, a hand closing into a fist.

The guy raised his hands. "Hey, she shoved herself into this mess. It's not my fault anymore. I've got no beef with you, Xiao Long." Then his sneer was back in place. "Blackthorn, on the other hand… maybe the rabbit, too… well, you know what answer I'm waiting for. I'll leave you alone after that."

Vanilla looked at the guy, and then at Lune with the beginnings of panic visible in her eyes. She swallowed, seeming to consider her options.

Well, Lune wasn't about to let the guy get what he wanted. Before Vanilla could open her mouth, Lune yawned and idly said, "Dunno about you, but I'd rather you go away and bother someone else. No agreement's going to be made here. You're wasting your time, _bro_."

"Nobody asked you."

"Yeah, well, you have my answer, and that's there to stay."

"This whole thing would've been nice and easy. But now I'm thinking, maybe you _and_ your dad shouldn't have been here. It's not like 'Professor' Beryl teaches any decently, anyway—gah!"

Lune found herself surprised at how the guy was suddenly dripping wet in the face, blinking as she stared at him and then at her now-empty glass of water.

She immediately forgot about the idiot at once. Her mouth slightly hung open as her previous action registered, and apparently Yang and Vanilla were just as surprised; both had the same expression of varying degrees.

But then she remembered that _he_ was there, and she wordlessly looked up at him, body tensed for any kind of reaction that would most definitely be something along the lines of violent, and bruising.

But no. That didn't happen. For a moment, the guy seemed to be stuck in this spot where he was wondering what to do. He settled for shooting Lune a nasty glare before turning and walking away, muttering about her being lucky that fighting each other outside of combat classes was not allowed or else Lune would have had the beatdown she deserved again and again.

Lune relaxed and, after seeing the guy's back turned against her, she sighed in relief.

Silence. And wondering. Those were what basically happened now. When she tried recalling what had just happened seconds ago, she'd ended up remembering that feeling of control, of suddenly gripping into some strange kind of power... and having the idea of grabbing her glass of water and throwing its contents at the bastard's face because he'd just insulted her dad and that was a line not meant to cross.

Except she didn't have to touch the object itself. As if through pure willpower, the water slipped out of the glass and _floated_ in midair. And, at the same time, Lune had flung her hand forward as if to command the liquid to do what she'd been thinking of doing. There was a certain sureness to her actions; there were no doubts, nothing. Just that she knew what she wanted and it happened.

 _Oh my gosh_ were three words that didn't even begin to describe what she felt just then.

…Did she just discover her semblance?

Judging from the realization that dawned on her friends' faces, apparently that seemed to be the case.

* * *

 **A/N:** Before anything else, I just want to say that there's a good possibility of errors and the like because I haven't proofread this one much. As of right now, when this chapter's uploaded, it's late at night here and I may or may not have the capacity to completely go over this. But hell, I just want this uploaded because this chapter is a long time coming.

Now, I also want to apologize for the late, late update because life got in the way and things might not have been all that good on my side. It was distracting and it interfered with my motivation to do anything and _damn_ that was one hole difficult to crawl out of. But now I'm feeling better. Yay. So if the quality suffered, yeah... sorry. I'll go over this again after I set this chapter simmer down.

In any case, I hope this has been worth the wait! XD I also notice we're approaching 100 reviews, and while I don't exactly see that as a complete basis for story quality... I'm actually feeling accomplished about that. Something something I've never experienced this before and it's awesome. That's all.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Several seconds of awkward silence later, Yang stared at Lune and said the two words that perfectly summed up this situation. "No way."

Lune honestly couldn't agree more and she wanted to say so, but right now her mind was too busy processing everything. All she could do was shut her open mouth.

Deciding that she needed to do an encore just to prove she didn't just fall asleep somewhere, Lune eyed the small drop of water that remained at the bottom of the glass. She cautiously raised a hand, felt the same rush of power that coursed through her system earlier and, like a rider holding a horse's reigns, latched onto it and proceeded to make the drop levitate until it reached her surprised, green eyes.

Holy cheese balls. It was amazing how time seemed to slow around their table when everything else was obliviously happening in normal speeds. Students still ate and chatted like normal, sitting around the cafeteria tables with their own cliques, and not a single glance was even thrown Lune's way.

However, just as it finally, _completely_ sunk in that the faunus most certainly wasn't in a dream, she lost her grip on the drop of water and watched it splash back down on the glass. _Plink._

"…Apparently, yes way." Lune finally said. _Oh my gosh, oh my gosh_. A grin slowly crept its way to her face as she looked at Yang, then at Vanilla. "I… didn't think it'd be _that_ thrilling to have my semblance discovered."

"That's the best reaction you can come up with after discovering your semblance?" Yang then said, completely forgetting her own food laid out on her table. "Come on, where are the explosions? The screaming?"

Lune stuck her tongue out at Yang. "I don't think social suicide is even worth doing after today. So shush, take my grin and call it a day."

"Still, Lune, this is wonderful!" Vanilla then said before Yang could open her mouth, smiling at the faunus. And then apologetically at Yang, because she did just cut the blonde off. "That means we have another thing we can go over during the weekends, huh? It's normal not to have complete control over it yet… But it feels good to know it's there."

"I bet Lune feels awesome now, knowing that she finally has something that _might_ help her kick butt in Uncle Qrow's class," Yang joked, her eyes practically twinkling as they met Lune's amused ones.

Lune picked up the apple sitting innocently on Vanilla's tray and tossed it at the blonde. She didn't have to be nervous about accidentally hitting her friend for real. No, not when Yang easily caught the thing. "Almost. I probably will next term, when we _all_ can finally apply our semblance alongside our fighting style—which, by the way, I'm not sure I have yet."

Qrow had first wanted the entire class to meet his standards of combat adeptness before everyone really started getting creative to weave their semblances into their fighting style. The last time someone cheated in a sparring match by making use of it, Qrow chewed out the guy so hard that Idrisa Blackthorn overheard from outside, took a peek inside the room, and burst out laughing. Obviously, the headmistress had the sense to _also_ tell Qrow to be "gentler" with his students, but there was no mistaking the mirth in her eyes as she then told everyone to keep their chins up and carry on with their training.

"After all, you really can't consider yourselves Huntsmen if a little scolding is enough to bring you all down." Idrisa had said. Lune had even heard her snicker after she'd turned and stepped out of earshot—or so the woman thought.

(Then again, the headmistress seemed to know that Lune _did_ hear; Idrisa had given the rabbit girl a sideways smirk before completely leaving the immediate area.)

Returning her mind to the present, Lune watched as Yang tossed the apple back to Vanilla with a quick "Heads up." Vanilla deftly caught it and, surprisingly smoothly, proceeded to take her first, small bite out of the juicy fruit.

"If that's the case, Lune, I'm looking forward to it." The blonde then told Lune with a toothy grin. "If I recall correctly, you still need to exact revenge on me for that brutal takedown last week."

 _Oh, ha-ha_ were basically the words that best described Lune's expression after being reminded how Yang wiped the floor with her. Brutal indeed. The faunus saw how Vanilla winced at the memory as she continued munching on her apple.

"However weird it is that you _want_ me to take vengeance… you're right, I do." Lune admitted. She shrugged. "But… meh. I've got, what, more than six-and-a-half years to prepare for that day? No pressure. For the meantime, I'll keep up with Vani's weekend practices so maybe eventually I'll be able to _really_ kick someone's ass into the next millennium."

 _And if I can do that, I most definitely can kill a Grimm no problem._

"That reminds me… Lune, can we practice on the same time this weekend?" Vanilla asked after swallowing her food. "I-if you don't mind, that is."

"You know I don't." Lune nodded at her friend. "Same time, same day, then—"

"Wait a minute. So that explains why you looked a lot more confident last meeting!" Yang said at this new discovery, a finger pointed at the faunus' face. Lune raised her eyebrows, but her lips were stretched into her usual, dry smile. "No offense, but you weren't exactly eager whenever we have combat classes. Ooh, then again, there was that time when we had nothing but a week of classes involving guns, but you get what I'm saying."

"Well, excuse me me if I realized I actually enjoyed gunplay," Lune shot back. It was something Lune never got to experience as Amelie. She remembered having been promised a trip to the firing range with her then-father—a trip that never happened because, well, y'know. "Though, yeah, I guess you can say that combat is half-exciting, half-dreadful. For perfectly valid reasons."

"Stuck in a class where everyone seems to be better than you, me and Vanilla included. Right."

"Pretty much."

"In any case, since we've had _quite_ the huge discovery today…" Lune somehow didn't like the look on her friend's face. As Yang stood up with an air of purpose surrounding her, the chair she'd sat on made a scraping sound as it was pushed backward. "It's only right that you get to tell your Daddy Dearest, don'tcha think? Heck, your mom should know ASAP, too."

"…You do realize I'd rather live the next six or so years without being publicly embarrassed, right? Sit back down, Yang."

Yang didn't do a thing. Typical.

"Uh-uh. And don't look at me that way—it can't be that bad! My dad didn't do anything that might have me screaming bloody murder at him…" Yang trailed off, blinked, and immediately reconsidered. "Then again, Ruby was there. Ehh."

"And my older sister simply patted me on the back before dragging me into a sparring match," Vanilla added. That seemed to have brought forth a particularly nasty memory, however. Her face took on an uncomfortable expression and she squirmed awkwardly on the chair she sat on. "I think that was the worst spar I've ever had, though… I might have hated guitars for a while."

Lune could only stare at the bespectacled girl incredulously.

"Okay…" She drawled out, shaking her head. "Anyway, point is, I'll never know what he ends up doing if he finds out _here_. In Signal. You know how dads are when they're proud of their kids."

Or maybe not. But, okay, _okay_ , maybe she had the stereotypical dad in mind when reality would always dictate that reactions differed from father to father. Something something each person being unique from another person. Still, that didn't mean Lune wasn't allowed to begin imagining all sorts of particularly embarrassing things her dad could do after hearing this particular news. Vert Beryl's darling little girl did just discover her semblance or, in the words of most people, what made her "special." That wasn't an every day thing.

"Good point, I guess," Yang allowed. "My dad _can_ be a total weirdo at times."

"I'm glad you agree. Now will you go abandon that idea and just… sit down?"

For a moment, Yang really did look like she was about to obey the faunus. She'd started bending her knees down and all.

"Nope."

But just like that, Lune's hopes were stomped on as her friend immediately straightened up, went around the table, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up to her own two feet. Before Lune could voice any objections, Yang began dragging the rabbit faunus with her outside the cafeteria. An android had nothing over the blonde's vice grip; Lune could only let her hand fall back down to her side after she failed to pry Yang's fingers off her arm.

"I'll, uh, save you guys two chairs on our next class!" was the last thing Lune heard from Vanilla before her voice and the chatter of the Signal Academy students faded away into the distance.

* * *

To Yang's puzzlement and Lune's half-surprise, half-relief, Vert Beryl was nowhere to be found in the campus.

First they've checked the faculty lounge—well, more like peeked; students were normally not allowed there—but alas, there were no signs of a fox-eared teacher there. All that had greeted the two girls were several rows of rectangular tables littered with stacks of test papers, some books, notebooks, lesson planners, scrolls, and the occasional Huntsman weapon. Lune wondered what irresponsible being left that there. Also, there had been two sleek bookshelves standing at the side of the room, some empty chairs underneath aforementioned tables, an air conditioning unit in the corner… and a teacher who had noticed them there and _oh wow_ that was one helluva questioning stare thrown their way.

Then, after skedaddling and later brainstorming where they could possibly look next, they'd decided to pass through a few classrooms with ongoing classes in different floor levels. As the doors had a small, rectangular glass panel where one could easily take a peek of the room inside, it was easy to chance a glance as they walked by.

Alas, they didn't find Lune's dad teaching any of the upperclassmen, either, and they had to get the hell out of the immediate area before they were caught loitering. Lune liked to think that she could bullshit her way out of some tangles, but that might not be one of them.

Lastly, they had even swung by the dormitories in the off-chance that Vert Beryl was waiting for Lune right by her room's door. The faunus hadn't really expected anything to result from that, so when she and Yang stopped in front of a white door with a card reader installed, she was hardly surprised to find the lack of a fox-eared faunus with an equally foxy smile. She _could_ count on her dad to come running if she ended up in an accident, though…

"Well, Yang, looks like luck is with me today," Lune said cheerfully. Ten minutes had passed since the two arrived at Lune's dorm room and no one had come at all. "I get to live to see another day."

The smile became strained, however, after her statement resulted to a light bonk in the head… that is, light by Yang's definition. To the general populace, that basically meant _yowch_.

"Oh, fine, you win." Yang said as Lune stuck a tongue out at her, rubbing the stinging body part. "Aren't you worried, though?"

Lune blinked. "About my dad? Should I?"

"Don't we normally see him here in Signal? Think about it! A single school day doesn't pass without him ruffling your hair whenever we encounter him outside of class."

Oh. Lune made a slight grimace; she didn't have to be reminded of that. Up to this day, she continued to wonder what it was about her hair and why every adult has the urge to just… mess it up. She _also_ might have unconsciously ran her fingers through her wavy hair just then, as if to straighten some imaginary tangles.

"Thank you for reminding me." She said with much more sarcasm than she usually went for.

"Oh, come on, it's kinda cute," Yang said with a snicker—and easily sidestepped the punch Lune meant to give her arm. "Anyway, yeah, back to the topic at hand. Our Dust Studies class had to be moved to our free period this afternoon just because he couldn't make it in the morning. He's still not here, so if that doesn't scream fishy to me, I don't know anymore."

"Seriously, I wouldn't worry. He has his Huntsman responsibilities, too, so maybe it's just taking longer than usual. He gets some missions in Vale from time to time." Lune informed her. She smiled dryly. "If he doesn't, we might end up going hungry. I don't think his salary here is enough to support even just a family of three because, you know, Huntsmen have additional things to spend on other than the average person's daily needs."

Yang stared at Lune in disbelief before she finally nodded in agreement. In hindsight, it did make sense.

"Alright, that works. Dad did tell me one time that it's also important to put aside some Lien for tools or materials to keep weapons. You know, to keep 'em in good condition and all." Yang said. "Parts to replace, bullets to buy, etcetera, etcetera. I'm pretty sure I also remember him saying, 'You don't just build a weapon and call it a day.'"

Lune bobbed her head up and down. It was one of the lessons she learned as she grew up.

 _Of course_ a future Huntress like her should have it ingrained in her mind that a weapon's durability degrades overtime without any regular maintenance. No matter how well-crafted it was. Otherwise, any person fighting the Grimm was one overlooked issue away from being torn into pieces.

That, and in regards to Huntsman missions, apparently some _did_ offer money as reward. The amount tended to vary from the difficulty of the mission; simple tasks around the city netted enough Lien to stop even the whiniest person from complaining, while the high-risk missions paid pretty darn well. Besides, when you had to think about it, each man, woman, or faunus _did_ risk their lives every day just to keep the Grimm at bay and keep the peace. It was just right that society gave back a little something for their good deeds. Positive reinforcement and all that, maybe.

"Oh, and then there's the increased Dust usage since it's constantly used for combat, too." Lune quickly added. "God knows how often Dad makes a trip to the Dust shop just to keep maintain a decent supply; Mom doesn't grow tired of teasing him about it."

"Oh yeah! I think I was around when I heard her one time. That when he accidentally froze a flowerbed, right?" Yang noted. She chuckled. "It's amazing she didn't explode. Just a simple, 'You're the one who insists on using Dust' before shaking her head and heading back inside the house."

Lune found herself doing the same, shoulders shaking as the cheerful memory came to mind.

"Yup. That's the one. Seriously, Yang," Lune said afterwards. "There isn't much to worry about. My dad's fine, we're fine, the whole day's going to be fine."

"Alright, alright, I believe you! But you're stillgoing to tell him about your semblance when you see him, 'kay?"

"Yes, ma'am. Anyway, he'll probably be back soon. I know he's going to sub for one of our teachers later since she's sick with the flu. He told me." Lune said. She then shoved a hand inside her skirt's pocket and pulled out a key card. The card reader on the door beeped after Lune had the thing scanned, the circular light on its surface shifting from red to green. "For the meantime, do you wanna hang out in my room? We still have thirty minutes to burn."

"Spend some _hopping_ good time with my favorite rabbit? Count me in."

"…Just don't make that pun again."

"I make no promises."

* * *

Lune would very much like to take back what she'd said earlier.

The beginning of class had started normally—maybe even predictably—enough. The catchy tune of the electronic bell had gotten every Signal Academy student rushing into their respective classrooms. Lune, Yang, and Vanilla settled down on the front row of the class and, as the rest of their classmates waited for the teacher, they either sat quietly on their chairs or started gossiping with their seatmates. At least the girls had, anyway, while the boys were being boys and Lune hadn't really bothered knowing beyond that. She was certain that she caught their attention, though, once they'd noticed her staring and their voices started becoming a little more hushed.

(The rabbit jokes were getting stale at this point.)

Yup, typical pre-class chaos.

But then came today's curveball: _Professor_ Beryl was a no-show.

Lune pulled out her scroll and checked the current time: 2:20 pm. Twenty minutes since classes started. She stared at the doorway, as if expecting her dad to finally make an appearance and maybe crack a cringey joke or two to break the tension… but no. No one really came. The door remained shut, just as it had been ever since all students were inside the room.

She twisted her head slightly to her left, where Yang was seating. She was kinda-sorta expecting the blonde to look back at her and remind her of her slight worry earlier, but it seemed that Yang was animatedly chatting with another girl beside her and enjoying the conversation too much to care about everything else. She hardly even noticed Lune's gaze. The faunus managed to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation, which revolved around homework and somehow, combat dresses. She didn't bother knowing more than that.

"Something's wrong, isn't there?" Asked a soft, gentle voice to her right.

When Lune met Vanilla's bespectacled violet eyes, she tilted her head to the side. Questioningly.

"You squirm on your seat when something's up," Vanilla supplied.

Oh. The faunus decided to just… smile and laugh it off. "Sorry! I'm just used to having my dad come to teach on time. Don't worry, I'll stop bothering you."

Her heart might have skipped a beat, however, as Vanilla stared at her with an indescribable expression on her face. It was somewhere between disbelief and mild suspicion. She could have sworn the girl saw right through her, but then Vanilla smiled and returned her attention to the quiz papers she'd been organizing. She pulled out three stapled papers, looked at the rest that proceeded it and began sorting in whatever way she'd decided on.

"If you say so." She aid so softly the faunus almost didn't catch it. Her tone of voice pretty much implied that she didn't believe the rabbit girl despite having dropped the issue. It was too polite and fake, even for Vanilla.

But before Lune could even decide on doing something to really assure her friend, the door suddenly swung open with a soft creak. Her head turned towards the sound, noticing from her periphery that some students had done the same thing.

The teacher that entered wasn't Vert Beryl.

But it certainly was someone else's parent.

Lune twisted her body slightly to the side as she glanced at Yang, whose lilac eyes had gone wide as she stared at the man whose appearance hers resembled. Blond hair, though paler, lilac eyes that could look bluish, depending on the lighting, and a clothing color scheme that revolved around different shades of brown and red. Yep, that was totally Taiyang Xiao Long over there at the front. Nobody else wore a red bandana on his arm and a brown vest over a tan, buttoned shirt.

But if he was here, then it was most likely that Qrow was watching over Ruby at home right now. Lune had long since learned that it was either Qrow or Taiyang that spent time with the kid while Yang was busy during the weekdays.

Anyway, Taiyang merely winked at Yang before making his way to the desk at the center, plopping down a small bag he'd carried with him.

"Hey, kids. I'm pretty sure everyone's been expecting someone else, so I'm sorry to disappoint. Fortunately or unfortunately for you guys, the role of teaching this class ended up falling into my hands today." He said. "Professor Beryl is, well, he's got his hands full at the moment."

Lune immediately shot a hand up. After being noticed and recognized, Taiyang nodded at her.

"He's not in a tangle or something, is he?" She said. Her voice was calm and even, but she'd be lying if she said that piece of news didn't make some alarm bells ring in her head. But then she wasn't about to fly into a panic, either. There wasn't enough info, not enough cause to warrant such a reaction. And even then, her usual way of dealing with things was to go with the flow—to adapt and to roll with it.

Huh, maybe that was why water manipulation was her semblance.

(Memories of her time spent in civilian school might have proved that was so. No direct confrontations with Aqua, and in general she had no trouble going along with all the new, Remnant-related stuff she had to learn along the way.)

"Judging from the message he'd sent to my scroll earlier, he sounds like he's okay." Taiyang answered. "Just dealing with something back home. Nothing too serious."

Was that so. She wasn't sure if that was actually reassuring. On the other hand, it wasn't anything her mind had envisioned, either. Nothing grim at all, pun so unintended. Because this was Remnant and the Grimm were a thing and… okay, she definitely ruined the joke now.

Besides, if something _was_ up, it wasn't like she could just stand up, go home at once, and check if her dad—and her mom—was really okay. She still had a class to finish before calling it a day, and ditching wasn't going to reflect well on her permanent record. Maybe she could get away with it with a real, confirmed emergency… but from the sounds of it, it was hardly that. So no, she had no choice but to wipe that from her mind so she could focus on the class.

While this decision would feel like it took forever before it was made on Lune's mind, in reality she'd only been thinking for a couple tick-tocks of a clock. Lune shrugged like she'd thought there wasn't anything to be concerned about and relaxedly leaned back on her chair. "Okay then. That's all, sir. Sorry about that."

Taiyang nodded. Then, turning away from her, he clapped his hands once and caught all the students' attention. "Alright! Now that that's out of the way, let's move on. If I recall correctly, we're two weeks away from your finals. So instead of teaching something new and making my job as a sub harder than it should be"—he grinned like he'd made a funny joke—"let's just do a review of your past lessons today."

The murmurs coming from the class were one of agreement, thankfully. Not that they could object; nobody had the nerve to piss off any Signal Academy teacher. At least, _outright_. Their professors were the people that could ruin a students' chance at getting into a Huntsman academy if they so much as showed they had poor discipline. Though of course, doing things behind the scenes, so to say, was a completely different story.

Seeing this, Taiyang then opened his bag, shoved his hand inside, and pulled out a rubber ball.

"Alright, this is how this session is going to go: I'll ask you guys a question, and whoever ends up catching the ball would have to give an answer. I'm pretty sure I won't end up asking something you haven't heard of, so… there's no need to contemplate faking an illness if you're nervous about the questions I have in mind." He said, tossing the round, red object up and down. Lune could have sworn she heard Yang snort beside her. "And before you ask, no dodging. This isn't combat class, after all!"

It was an interesting way to do a review, to say the least. Maybe even fun, and Lune supposed this was a good way to distract herself for the meantime. Besides, she could use a refresher for the things she'd studied on her spare time. Her lessons were pretty fascinating stuff if she ignored the more boring parts.

 _Everything will be fine._

 _I hope._

"Any questions? None? Great. Then let's get started." Taiyang said. "We'll start with something nice and easy. Define Dust."

Taiyang sent the ball flying in an underhand throw. Lune immediately realized that the toy was flying towards her and, fighting off the urge to duck because of her dad's extreme dodgeball exercises ingrained in her mind, she cupped her hands in front of her and watched the round object land safely on them. She could have sworn Yang looked at her almost jealously, the want of catching the ball herself visible on her face. Lune shot Yang an apologetic expression before turning back to their current teacher.

"Textbook definition or anything goes?" Lune asked with a hint of her usual (though forced) dryness.

"Anything goes. It's up to you."

"Alright. Let's see… Dust is a source of energy on Remnant, used on a variety of purposes ranging from general utility to weaponry. Mostly weapons these days, but maybe that's just me being around people who would be using those on a daily basis. Anyway, Dust is, uh, how mankind managed to win the war against the Grimm back in the early times. Or at least that's how the ancient legends put it." She answered. "Nobody really knows where it came from, though. Just that it was _there_ , and the rest was history."

That was what she remembered the best. And to be honest, it was actually common knowledge by now.

Once upon a time, mankind fought a losing struggle against the creatures of darkness known as the Grimm. However, through their resourcefulness and ingenuity—perhaps with a hint of desperation mixed in—humanity managed to discover Dust. That was all they needed to turn the war into their favor. The Grimm were eventually driven back; civilizations were then made, and Dust was integrated into every day life.

And as Lune had said, the rest was history. She tossed the ball back to Taiyang, who easily caught it with one hand.

"You've definitely been hitting the books," the man said in approval.

"More like forced to, but eh, same difference," Lune said all-too-casually, leaning back on her chair. She heard Vanilla chuckle beside her—it was all the bespectacled girl's doing, the whole studying thing. Not that Lune wouldn't have done that at all! It was just that she had the tendency to delay it as much as possible before cramming everything into one day. Yes.

"Either way, that's good! You could stand to improve your grades a little bit more." Taiyang said. He then returned his attention towards the rest of the class. "Alright, guys, next question: how many types of Dust are there at the present?"

The ball then went flying, and whether it was by coincidence or otherwise, the ball went flying towards Yang's direction. The girl eagerly shot up from her chair and caught the thing instead of letting it land into another unfortunate student's hands. Some students appeared to have wanted to answer such an easy question, though, judging from the way their faces fell for a split second. But considering that it was _Yang_ who got the ball, nobody really wanted to outwardly object. Mostly because everyone liked Yang anyway.

The answer the cheery blonde gave was pretty much what everyone knew about Dust so far: that there were four basic types in four, equally basic colors. Red, blue, yellow, green. Fire, water, earth, air—or at least that was how Lune had understood it. There were some secondary types of Dust such as ice, lightning, steam, or even _gravity_ , but so far she and the rest of the class had put more focus on the basics this term. There could be more Dust combos she hadn't known about.

In any case, Yang had said it all without missing a beat or doubting her knowledge. And after finishing, she crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back into her chair with a wide grin.

Things had pretty much happened the same way after that. Ball goes flying, a student catches it, then an answer's given. Rinse and repeat. Lune had paid attention to the first few questions and even smiled encouragingly at Vanilla when it was the shy girl's turn. But eventually, the faunus found her mind straying as questions concerning her more recent lessons were now the ones being answered.

In fact, she couldn't help but inwardly ask herself: why was she so bothered? Was there even any problems to begin with? So what if her dad happened to pass on one day of teaching?

If something was up, it wasn't like her parents were incapable of solving a nasty tangle all by themselves. They were adults. They dealt with those sort of things practically on a daily basis. Dad was a capable Huntsman, though not necessarily the best out there, and Mom had implied that she wasn't no greenhorn either. She didn't need to be involved for anything to happen.

Grimm attack? They'll kick ass. Marriage troubles? Dramatic, but it could be solved through some serious talking… or some counseling. And if it was something else entirely… she had to admit, she was curious. But then the saying "Curiosity killed the cat" existed for a reason.

(She might have wondered if that particular saying was racist against cat faunus, though. Hoo boy, blurred lines.)

She could always show them her newly-discovered semblance some other day, she told herself. It wouldn't be as great or as exciting, but at least they would finally know. And whatever issue was there, if there _was_ one, she'll take their mind off of it. She'd thought of going home after class, but maybe she didn't have to. She _shouldn_ _'t_ have to because her mind was just being weird.

On the other hand, what would she lose by just swinging by her home? It wasn't too far from Signal. The safety of the roads was questionable thanks to the Grimm, sure, but she could at least fight back before cutting and running if the situation demanded she do so. So, really, all she'd be wasting was time.

Unfortunately, Lune never managed to consider that thought completely. Once again, the ball was falling her way and it appeared that nobody even wanted to catch the darned thing. She sighed inwardly and caught the ball.

"Can I hear the question again? Sorry, I kinda spaced out." She said with an awkward rubbing of the back of her neck.

Fortunately, Taiyang decided not to comment on that. Judging from the look on his face, he seemed to understand that she had the tendency to do that. Yang must've told him.

"That's fine." He said with a smile. He then proceeded to give her the kind of question she hadn't been entirely sure about: how gravity Dust worked and where was it best used.

She suddenly regretted catching the ball.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Yang later asked as she spotted Lune. The rabbit faunus was making a beeline towards the exit of the dorm building, still wearing her uniform: a pale yellow, long-sleeved, buttoned blouse and a white skirt. And before anyone asked, no, she didn't decide to cut classes. School was done for the day. In fact, a glance at a clock would reveal that the current time was around 4:30 pm.

Lune paused from her walk. She faced her friend and noticed how the blonde was hugging to her chest two—no, three—textbooks, with a cute backpack (that Ruby gave as a birthday present months ago) strapped over her shoulders. _Well, someone_ _'s decided to go do some studying today._

"I'm going home for a quick visit," Lune answered honestly.

"So you _are_ worried about your dad."

"Yep." Lune nodded. "A tiny bit. It's probably nothing, but I gotta be sure, you know?"

 _After all_ , she thought. _I wouldn_ _'t want to be kept up at night by something like this bugging me._ It was bad enough that her dreams of her old life attacked her when she least expected it.

Yang smiled, adjusting the way she carried her books. "Yeah, I get you. If my little sister's in trouble, I'd come running too." Then, after a pause, she added, "And before you ask, I'm not even mad. Or… Yangry. Get it?"

"Pfft. Bad pun aside, if you _are_ mad, I'd know. Your eyes would turn red and you look all fiery and stuff." Lune said with a chuckle, both at the pun and the mental image of Yang and her fiery semblance. "So I'm guessing you want to come with? You always tag along since we pass by your house before we reach mine."

"Yeah, now that you've mentioned that…"

To Lune's mild surprise, the blonde shook her head and gestured to her books by slightly hefting them up. Her teeth showed as a wide grin stretched across her face.

"No can do, bud. I have to hit the books today."

…Oh.

"I hope you mean figuratively, not literally." Lune said flatly. That resulted to Yang sticking her tongue out at her.

"You wish! Much as I'd love to go on an adventure, I gotta make up for that last test. Dad's not going to let me hear the end of it if I score low again." Yang said. She shrugged, barely affected by the weight of the books she'd carried. "Yep. That'll be the last time I play a video game with you the day before a quiz."

"You're the one who insisted on playing when I kept telling you we had to study. I hate to say I told you so… but I told you so." Lune decided to say. She'd sacrificed some precious sleeping hours just to be at the top of her game the next day. Lune then eyed the end of the hallway. "Anyway, I guess I'll see you later. Or tomorrow, if I spend too much time there."

"Right." Yang nodded. "I'll tell Vanilla where you'll be. Be safe, you hear?"

"Can do. Ciao." Lune gave Yang a two-fingered salute before turning away and walking past the glass doors of the building.

* * *

Maybe it was just the calm atmosphere that the environment provided. Maybe she was just feeling sentimental. But somehow, Lune couldn't help but feel kinda-sorta glad that Patch hadn't changed after all these years.

Granted, the constructed port on the east of the island—a little bit to the south of Signal Academy where the trees thinned until the coast was finally visible—was a recent development because the old one was one storm closer to being wrecked beyond repair. And, okay, there was also the once-forested portion of the island now cleared of trees, with a house being built there (and she could have sworn the thing wasn't looking pretty skeletal anymore).

But! All in all, things were still mostly the same.

Patch was still an island filled to the brim with trees; that was one. There were still more forests than clearings, and the dirt path that either went around or through them still twisted and turned towards dead ends, a lone inn (yes, an _inn_ ) or some other establishment, or a quiet home like Lune's.

And just like before, Patch was still relatively secluded from Vale; that was another. If it weren't for the existence of Signal Academy, probably nobody would realize the island existed. At least until someone from there told them. On the plus side, the island was slowly gaining some recognition as time flew by. The fighters Signal Academy produced were actually competent enough that they got into Beacon Academy without too much fuss, and that in turn would lead to some background checks. Or something.

Yes, indeed. Lune might be used to adapting to new environments, but she did like it when things were consistent.

Things not including the Grimm, at least.

Lune paused from her walk the moment her ears picked up a sound that sounded eerily like a rumbling throat. She wasn't sure how far the sound originated from, something that was occasionally a con when it came to having two sets of ears, but she knew that still meant one thing: shit may or may not hit the fan anytime soon.

The rabbit faunus didn't waste any time on continuing her walk once more. This time there was hurry and a sense of urgency in her steps.

She knew she was going to face one of those bastards someday, but who's to say she was ready to fight one right now? She _might_ be able to take on one Beowolf if she applied what she'd learned so far. But if there were many, and if she made just one simple mistake…

Lune looked over her shoulder, found nothing (yet), and decided that maybe she was going to sprint home. Beyond her stretched the brown, unpaved road that was surrounded by trees; as of now, she still couldn't make out the sight of her home. If she was getting close.

 _Okay, fine, world, you can start gloating because I_ _'ve just made a bad decision._

Keep calm, she told herself as her walk became even more brisk. Sprinting might be a bad idea, after all. Could excite the Grimm and actually chase her. She had to keep calm. They were attracted to negative emotions—even the slightest increase of fear would be enough to get one on her tail. It would also depend on whether it was close enough to pick up the feeling, how many were experiencing said emotion, or how strong it was, but Lune wasn't going to take any chances.

 _Huh_ , she managed to think despite her current, tense situation. _Maybe that_ _'s why the local government strives to keep its citizens content and at peace. Well, other than keeping a steady number of Huntsmen around to watch the borders and kill any Grimm that comes close. It's a scary thought that one revolution is all it takes for everything to fall into chaos... wait.  
_

Oh… crap. This time she could hear some steps, reminding her of dogs running on the grass. The sound followed her as she went; she was sensed.

Lune tried to fight off her rising panic as a result. Judging from the sound, it didn't seem like the creature was with a pack. Good thing Beowolves existed on Patch, nothing else. That meant she knew what she would face.

Then again, on the other hand, even with her aura being unusually plenty, there was always the risk of dying for real. As if dying once was bad enough. No one could say what would happen after she died a second time.

(Fallingfallingfalling the ground coming closer she was going break all her bones, bleed, and _die_ —)

She shook her head and banished the remnants of her past memories. _Calm. Down_. _Keep calm and go home where Dad or Mom will deal with this particular boogeyman._

But...

But she couldn't.

Not when a black blur finally sped past her and turned around, blocking her way.

Lune felt her black shoes scrape against the ground as she immediately stopped, her mouth running dry. She regretted to think it, but a jolt of fear went down her spine as she found herself face-to-face with a real, honest-to-goodness Beowolf.

The pictures she'd seen of one didn't do the real thing any justice. Yes, it was bipedal and clawed like the fictional werewolves of Earth. Yes, its face was a bone mask lined with red marks. Yes, their eyes were just as red, like blood. And, yes, _yes_ , their fur was black as the dark and white bone (was it really a bone?) spikes protruded from their muscular arms and hunched back.

But the textbooks had never mentioned just how awful she really felt by being in the presence of one. In time, she'd get used to it so she could do her job well, but right now… Right now, she immediately realized why both human and faunus strive to completely eradicate them from the face of Remnant.

Creatures without souls, indeed. Their unnaturalness made the hairs on Lune stand on end. She could feel the nothingness emanating from the Beowolf, make her think that this was enough to be the stuff of nightmares.

The Grimm should never exist.

The Beowolf roared, dove forward, and clawed at her before Lune could even react. She felt the brief flash of white-hot pain before it was immediately dulled by her Aura, and all she managed was a surprised yelp as she was knocked back and sent colliding against a nearby tree.

 _You friggin'... that hurt_. The tree had shuddered and let a few leaves drift down on her body as she shakily stood up, pretty sure that her Aura had taken a noticeable dent from the attack. She wasn't down for the count just yet, though she wished she had her scroll to gauge her Aura level. She was the prime example of a Huntress right there, forgetting her scroll and shit.

Now how was she going to fight this thing?

 _Your first mistake in combat is taking too much time to think_ , she suddenly remembered Vanilla telling her last weekend. It was after they had that talk and they continued sparring for the rest of the afternoon. _Or, um, thinking when you should be doing nothing but moving and moving_.

Vanilla had a point; any opponent would never even give her room to think just a tiny bit. Just like this Beowolf that now sped towards her for a follow-up attack—wait, _merde_. Here it was!

Lune immediately, ungracefully leaped out of the way, hearing the creature's claws scrape against the tree's bark. The faunus swallowed as she noticed the amount of wood it managed to tear off the poor thing, and she couldn't help but imagine what a bloody mess that would have been if it had been an Aura-less human in its place. Anyway, before the Beowolf could attack again, she hastily gained distance by taking huge leaps that would later tell her how ridiculously rabbit-like that was. She'd then thought of running as it was the smartest thing to do because this could be a bad match, but…

Either the thing caught up to her when she finally lost the energy to keep running, proceeding to kill her, or she stayed long enough to incapacitate the damn thing _before_ she could run again. Or, you know, actually kill it before it killed her.

After all, the Beowolf was the size of an adult human. Lune was a quick runner, alright, but her short height and equally short legs would make sure that the Grimm would always manage to be faster than her. Like, look at those long legs; this monster could make strides thrice as big as hers. But if she could manage to run far enough that her dad could come to her rescue…

"If there's anyone around to help me, now's the good time to intervene!" She yelled out anyway, in the off-chance that someone was around to hear her. So far, there was no response.

In any case, she might as well try to prove to herself that she was competent in her own way. And that meant finding a makeshift weapon. Too bad there's no water puddle nearby; it hadn't been raining these past few days.

This time, Lune managed to at least spin and shoot out a leg, aiming a kick at the creature's head as it charged towards her—a kick strong enough to stop the thing in its tracks and make it whimper. She took satisfaction at that despite feeling a painful jolt from the impact. And, deciding that maybe she could take it to the next level, she jumped up and aimed a stomp at the same once, twice, _thrice,_ like she was on a trampoline instead of a goddamn Grimm. Then she ran across its spiny back as she heard an infuriated roar and... oh hey, she managed to eye a tree branch several feet in front of her.

 _Through the use of Aura, you can actually weaponize anything you end up channeling it into_ , the voice of one of her teachers echoed in her mind as she reached for the thick, sturdy thing. Fancy that, she realized that aura was most likely the reason why team RWBY managed to make a swordfish work like a rapier, or a piece of baguette function like a spear or a sword without breaking, back when the food fight scene was a part of the show on Earth. Aura hardened anything that would have been soft or fragile.

And, knowing she was better at dual-wielding (Qrow had said so, even though she was still leagues away from being very good), she brought her knee up and slammed the branch into it. It didn't break in that smooth, cool way like it would in the movies; it took the faunus twice before it finally snapped into two. As the Beowolf recovered and turned towards her, she then let her Aura flow from her body and into the tree branch. The most she could do at that moment was to criss-cross them in front of her as an incoming claw suddenly swiped at her, the monster having come close too quickly for her liking.

The way Lune wielded her branches wouldn't be something worth writing about in any book, but it was good enough for her, and she wasn't really picky at the moment. As she stopped sliding back, she then dashed forward and swung her makeshift weapons in the way she remembered doing that made her combat teacher nod in approval.

 _Eat that, scumbag._

After that, the fight pretty much improved for Lune. Becoming more and more comfortable with her makeshift weapons, she lunged and slashed while ducking its claws or avoiding its bites. Heck, for one moment, she even managed to dance around the Beowolf before delivering two neat slashes against its side. It was honestly neat as fuck (pardon the wording) as to how she managed to do that so smoothly and gracefully; for once, she didn't feel like she'd moved awkwardly like she always did during combat class.

The Beowolf retaliated with another swipe of its claw. Lune managed to block it in time, pushed the arm back, and countered with a slash of her own.

Seriously, for those few seconds, she had a sense of rhythm. One-two-slash, step back, twirl away, two—no, three quick steps forward, and slash again. She could almost imagine a song playing during that moment, even. She then prepared to perform another round of assaults, but—

Lune gasped in pain.

The Beowolf got a lucky hit. Somehow, the creature managed to catch her arm with its teeth just as she was about to dash forward and stab. Her eyes widened as she realized what could happen here, and in that split-second, she did the first thing that came to panicked mind so the damn thing would let go: poke—no, _stab_ its eye with the branch on her free hand before the thing could swing her around like a ragdoll and really mangle her arm.

It whined harshly. Music to her ears. She hadn't managed to stab through its skull and kill it, damn her poor upper arm strength, but she did manage to make it flinch and open its mouth. The Beowolf reeled back, and Lune quickly snatched back the branch stuck in its eye before she was blindly clawed at again.

Except that she was, and Lune was knocked back as a result. Her backside collided painfully against the ground, and her branches went flying in random directions.

Well, darn.

She was, basically, disarmed. She swallowed nervously as that sunk in.

 _Maybe I should have run instead_.

(She also belatedly realized that her arm had several puncture marks in a small arc. _Apparently_ , she'd thought with a slight pang of hysteria because oh wow look at that blood flowing down her arm, _Aura could only take so much damage before it breaks for a short time and hastily repair itself_. The Beowolf bit harder than she'd anticipated, but it's a good thing adrenaline existed.)

And just like something out of a movie where the damsel was in deep shit, Lune felt her heart beating against her chest as the creature now loomed over her. She swallowed again and helplessly crawled back, but then she bumped against another tree.

 _This is it_ , she thought in despair as she watched it raise a clawed hand. _I wasn_ _'t able to do enough in the end._ _I was stupid, okay?_

Lune shut her eyes and—

The now-familiar sound of ice slamming into something solid registered in both her rabbit and human ears.

Wait, what?

The sight of an ice spike having pierced through the Beowolf's chest area greeted her the moment she opened her eyes. She did what any sane person would do after such a blatant deus ex machina happened: she blinked. And blinked.

She could only watch as the spike dissipated in the air along with the now-dead Grimm. It was like watching the wind blow away sand. She slowly stood up, her mind strangely silent for once.

Okay, so she _was_ stunned. Very stunned.

She almost didn't register who was behind the Beowolf after its remains were finally lost to the wind. But when the feeling of recognition finally slapped her in the face, her heart leaped—but not in joy, no. It was actually more of shock and bewilderment.

At least... someone did hear her cry after all?

Well, make that two someones. But then they were _also_ whom Lune expected would never appear in so far a location from where they originated from.

 _How? Why?_

 _Glynda Goodwitch_ lowered her riding crop and pushed up her glasses with her free hand. Familiarity washed through the faunus as she took note of the blonde hair, purple and black cape, long-sleeved white blouse and black business skirt, but that feeling was immediately replaced by nervousness. There was nothing particularly warm about her stare as her green eyes met Lune's. Was she going to be harshly berated for fighting a Grimm when she was still a fighter-in-training?

Fortunately, or _unfortunately_ , her attention shifted from her to the bespectacled, gray-haired man who stepped forward, his equally familiar-looking cane in hand. Just like she remembered, his brown eyes hold a certain intelligence in them, but she didn't know what to make of the smile on his face. It was pleasant and sorta unsettling at the same.

Heck, for that matter, she didn't know what to make of this situation.

"While it was quite brave of you to have confronted a Grimm alone, young lady, that was also quite a reckless and a poorly-thought decision," he said, making Lune feel like a kid who was caught sneaking out cookies from the cookie jar. His smile turned into a slightly more impressed one. "However, just like any warrior-in-training, you show potential. Now tell me, why is an adorable girl, such as yourself, walking through the forest alone and nearly defenseless?"

Lune could have sworn some parts of that last line sounded oddly familiar.

* * *

 **A/N** : Aaaaand... done! For the record, guys and gals, I'm not dead. I almost got buried alive by college stuff, sure, but yes, I live. Apologies for taking so long (I should really stop doing this every chapter...); I've recently gone back to attending my college classes. One or two terms left before I graduate, yey.

Anyway, you guys probably have some questions about that last part of the chapter. Basically, yes, I have something planned (...mostly) for this angle of the story. Those two appeared for a specific reason, but no, I won't necessarily reveal everything on the next chapter. Just some vague hints for now. I won't say more than that, but I do hope the encounter doesn't sound too strange. :P

Alsooo, I think a reminder's in order that I'm still trying to get good at writing combat scenes. I'm not sure how the one I've written was believable enough - though I'm sorry for not getting a water manipulation semblance involved - with Lune's current skill level, though I like to think that one Beowolf is easier to deal with than another human/faunus combatant. Either way, I just wanted this chapter finally _finished_. I stayed up late and everything, haha~

(As an aside, I really wish I had something for a good cover pic with this story. Alas, my drawing skills are nigh nonexistent. XD)

Hope the length makes up for the wait!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

When you were standing directly in front of the headmaster of Beacon Academy, there wasn't really any appropriate reaction you could make other than a wide-eyed stare and a slack jaw. _Especially_ when you've just tangoed with a Beowolf and nearly died in the process.

And, if you were to consider said headmaster's assistant beside him, the very person who'd just saved your butt, it was also a miracle to not have melted into a puddle of embarrassment by now. Such was Lune's current status, and she could easily imagine her past self sighing and shaking her head while wondering what Ozpin himself was doing in this neck of the woods.

Woods which were also, by the way, on the far, far west of Vale when Beacon Academy was situated on the east.

"Well, y'see…" the faunus finally managed to say, remembering that she still had a question to answer. She winced slightly as she accidentally rubbed the arm that still bore the bite marks of the Beowolf earlier. Ouch. Aura did quicken the body's healing process, but its speed also depended on the severity of the wound. Getting bitten wasn't exactly something you could describe as just a scratch. "I was making my way back home to check up on my parents." She explained. Then, after a pause, she added, "And I'm not in need of medical help, before you ask. It's stopped bleeding."

Lune went to grab a roll of bandage for her arm, anyway, going through the process of neatly wrapping the thing around her arm so all she had to worry about was a bunch of bite marks, nothing worse. She had one all packed up on her bag—that she almost forgot existed—and, yes, she was stupid to have missed packing a knife or any small weapon when she managed to bring with her first-aid stuff.

"I see. I take it this is your usual route, going home?" Ozpin asked next.

Lune swallowed as she finished up her bandaging, not answering at once. The man wasn't intimidating by any means, being more along the lines of affable and a bit stoic, but maybe it was what Lune remembered of him that made her feel uncomfortable. Made her subtly shift her weight from one foot to another while trying to maintain a calm and collected expression.

At least, the most calm and collected expression she could muster after one rough fight. She was definitely being the polar opposite of how Ruby would feel when she would finally meet him sometime after she turned fifteen. Like, man, wouldn't it be awesome if she could just see Ozpin and company as superstars instead of people she was wary of?

After all, here was a person who was a whole lot more than meets the eye. Here was a person who held secrets close to his chest and merely shared it with a select few. A _person_ who wasn't simply in a certain location for no reason at all. A total unknown when you stripped away his current position as headmaster of Beacon. Other than what Lune remembered of him, Ozpin was still a mystery overall.

"Yes," she said. It was her best response after being "busy" from dealing with her healing wound. Seeing as this was an opportunity to make a subtle inquiry of her own, she added, "I only usually see Huntsmen or the occasional traveler walking around here, though. Not headmasters and their assistants."

"So you know who I am."

Lune gave a small smile. A safe enough question to answer without gaining suspicion (like, oh, she didn't know, she'd technically met them before, maybe?). That, and she _swore_ she'd heard that same line before. "Sir, I'm not doing a good job as a warrior-in-training if I keep living under a rock."

Ozpin's lips curled into a smile of his own while Glynda seemed to regard Lune a little differently now. It wasn't easy to tell since the woman still had that stern expression on her face and her arms were still crossed, but she didn't seem as frigid as she did earlier. At least she hoped she wasn't imagining the way Glynda relaxed ever-so-slightly.

Still, that didn't stop the scolding the woman had been wanting to give Lune since her rescue earlier. "And if you were to ask me, you still have a great deal of learning to do, young lady. What were you thinking, confronting a Beowolf like that? While it can be admirable that you managed to wear it down, it's too early for someone of your skill level to do anything so dangerous."

Lune's smile vanished. The rabbit ears lopping along the sides of her head, if it were possible, drooped even more. She could only guiltily rub the back of her neck while she smiled apologetically and struggled to maintain eye contact, head slightly bowed.

While Glynda wasn't exactly one of the nicest people around, she was no liar. Lune _did_ have a truckload of things her mind and body still needed to absorb.

And, yeah, okay, she got the message: she was stupid and suffered the consequences. Her arm's bite marks were going to be a scar, for sure, reminding her about it every day. It was lesson enough.

She didn't appreciate getting reminded of that, but what person would anyway? She could only take it and make sure it stuck.

"Now, Glynda, it appears the girl is already aware of the error of her ways. She'll certainly remember this in the future; you learn the most when you make mistakes, after all," Ozpin said, his tone of voice never changing. "That being said, you know who I am, but I certainly don't know who I am speaking to."

"Right," Lune said and let her hand fall to her side. She straightened herself up, suddenly reminded that whatever she thought of Ozpin personally, she needed to behave better. She offered her hand. "I'm Lune. Lune Beryl. I'd, um, say it's a pleasure to meet you if circumstances were otherwise."

"Beryl, you say." Ozpin said. He eyed Lune's proffered hand with mild amusement before giving it a firm shake.

Well, other than realizing a handshake must've looked pretty silly if a kid was doing it, Lune wondered just exactly what he knew. There was something about the way those words escaped his lips. Something _knowing_ , like he was waiting for her to discover it. But on the other hand, he hadn't made any comments about her unnatural Aura, either. Either he knew and he was just rolling with it, or he thought it polite not to make any mention of it. Or something else entirely—she wasn't that good at reading people like him.

"I don't suppose you're related to a certain River Beryl, then?" He asked next.

Never mind. That was probably it. But then…

 _He knew my mom?_ Lune thought. It was, like, the only question ringing on her mind now. But despite that, she managed to maintain a more-or-less polite face and bobbed her head up and down, mentally telling herself that this was probably another one of those things that her mom wasn't all too keen on mentioning. As for what reason… she didn't know. There were lots of things her mom didn't like talking about. Dad was the more open one between the two of them.

Standard protocol, then. Roll with it.

"She's my mom," Lune answered anyway. Then she smiled the dry smile that proved she resembled the woman. Although, honestly… her reaction was more of making sure she had that on her face instead of a puzzled frown. "There isn't really a lot of faunus around here."

The briefest exchange of glances between Ozpin and Glynda made her mind think of even more questions. It happened so fast, she almost didn't catch it.

"Ah, but of course," Ozpin said smoothly, like nothing happened. "There is quite the resemblance between the two of you. Your mother had briefly attended Beacon, you see."

Well, that explains.

Lune had kind of gathered that from the little bits of information her mom had told her from time to time. Still, that didn't stop her from blinking hard; her mom didn't just attend a combat school—she attended _Beacon Academy_. Lune respected her mom's wishes of keeping some skeletons hidden safely in their closets, just as she'd told her, but it did make her heart sink a millimeter that she had to learn this from someone who was technically a stranger if she didn't know who Ozpin was.

 _Roll with it_ , she reminded herself again.

"Oh," was the most eloquent reply Lune could come up with. Deciding that maybe this situation might be taking a strange turn because she might not know what to do if Ozpin revealed _more_ , she eyed the road ahead before returning her gaze to both headmaster and assistant. "Um. Right. Okay. In any case, I'd probably wasted your time enough. Headmasters have a lot of important stuff to deal with, last I checked—and uh, sorry, that probably sounded rude—so I think I've wasted your time enough." Lune said, making fast gestures with her hand. "I should… probably be heading home. I don't hear any Beowolves anymore so that last one was probably a straggler, and my home should be close by now."

The gray-haired man was ever-so-polite as he nodded his head, the smile never leaving his face. "You're certain you don't need to be escorted home? It's for your own safety, after all."

Lune shook her head, careful not to do it too quickly. She wasn't rude. And other than the fact that she'd never live this down because she made Beacon's headmaster feel obligated to walk her home, the very thought of this kind of scenario happening was too embarrassing. And awkward. Especially if Ozpin—and Glynda—were to be witness to her mother going mother hen on her daughter the moment she noticed the bandage on her arm.

It wasn't exactly dignifying. Not the kind of impression she'd want to have _before_ she even stepped foot into Beacon.

"No, seriously. I'll be fine, sir. I can always holler if something comes up." Lune said. She probably hadn't sounded too convincing when she realized her tone of voice _might_ have been a pitch higher, but whatever.

"Very well, then. If you insist." Ozpin said. He seemed to have thought of turning around and gesturing for Glynda to follow him, having noticed the way he'd almost moved from his spot, but at the end he remained where he stood. "Oh, but I have one last question, Miss Beryl."

"…Yes?"

"Has your mother told you any fairy tales, growing up?"

Another set of blinks. And a head tilt for good measure. It was the only appropriate reaction to a question that came out of the blue.

In fact, the question became all the weirder when she noticed Glynda's eyes widening ever so slightly as she looked at Ozpin, as if realizing that a certain red line was threatening to be crossed. The blonde, bespectacled woman hadn't done anything, however, merely remaining where she stood and deciding to let her colleague take the lead.

Going back to the fairy stories question, Lune wasn't familiar with any. Mostly because River _didn_ _'t_ tell any. Lune did know of one, but that was only because she'd learned of it in another life. In another world—and in a once-fictional show.

See, River Beryl, by default, wasn't one for those kind of stories.

Oh, she still told Lune bedtime stories a couple years ago, but they were mostly the kind that involved some sort of moral lesson at the end. Don't cheat. Don't lie. Be honest and obedient. Help anyone who needs it, whenever possible. Be kind to everyone, even the biggest of assholes. Don't do drugs—okay, she made that last one up. But! Basically, think fables and the like, the former which sounded really strange to hear now that she was a faunus.

"Sorry, kiddo," River used to say. "They're just not my kind of thing."

(Every time, there was a faraway expression in River's eyes as they seemingly glazed over for a split-second.)

"Not really," Lune answered with a rueful shake of her head. "She doesn't… really like them."

Somehow, that seemed like an answer enough to the man. The faunus could almost say it was a perfectly expected one, judging from the lack of surprise on Ozpin's face as he nodded slowly. Glynda's expression, on the other hand, was inscrutable. As per usual. When she wasn't bluntly criticizing a Beacon student, anyway.

"I see. Then we shall be on our way now." Ozpin said, nodding to Lune once. He smiled. "I do hope to see you at Beacon someday, Miss Beryl."

Lune couldn't help but grin at that one. "You can count on it."

Just like that, the duo turned away and took the path that Lune had taken previously. They separated ways, Ozpin and Glynda moving north and Lune moving south. And, soon enough, the faunus found herself alone once more. The trees and the noisy birds were once again her companions, the slowly sinking sun bathing her surroundings in a yellow-orange glow. It would be twilight sometime soon, she figured. By then, Ozpin and Glynda would probably be riding on some airship back to Beacon after concluding their business here and—

Lune immediately stopped, and it wasn't because her home was finally in sight. She felt her jaw grow slack. Her mouth opened into a surprised 'o' shape.

And then she slapped herself on the forehead. _Ugh, I_ _'m so dumb._

It never occurred to her to find out what Ozpin was doing in Patch.

* * *

The home stretch should have taken her less than ten minutes. It was a straightforward walk from where she'd been, and she would really have to try her hardest if she ever wanted to end getting up lost along the way. Instead, she managed to eat up fifteen. Considering that she had to get her scrambled thoughts nice and organized before she made her appearance, as well as making sure that she'd mentally rehearsed what she was going to say about her souvenir from the Grimm attack, she had a perfectly legit reason to delay things as much as possible. It wasn't like she was expected home, anyway.

She had her opening line memorized by the time she was really close. But the moment Lune was several steps away from standing on the mat laid out in front of the door, she immediately sensed that something was wrong. Very wrong, Lune decided, if the colorful flowers on the flower boxes right below the windows opposite sides of the door actually _looked_ like they were sad, petaled heads drooping down.

She forgot her lines entirely. She could hear sounds—voices—from where she stood. But then, from what fragments of conversation she could hear from within the house, they weren't good ones. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably despite the feeling of relief that her dad was indeed at home with her mom.

"…hiding long enough. _I get it_. I'm not stupid. But…" That was her mom's voice. The faint, muffled footsteps Lune heard must've been from the woman's pacing around the room.

"I know what you mean." _Dad._ The sigh was near-inaudible even with Lune's faunus hearing. She almost missed his next words. "…has a point, though. The longer this goes on…"

"Don't finish that sentence. I already know, okay?" River said. More like yelled. The voice was accompanied by what sounded like a foot kicking one of the wooden furniture and Lune winced, clutching her ears. Plus side, said furniture didn't seem to break. No crashes or anything. "On the other hand, dropping and going just like that is _not_ an option. It shouldn't be an option! This…" River's voice grew soft again. "…is not _fair_. This just had to happen."

There were many more things that Lune managed to catch. But at that point, she wasn't entirely certain she wanted to hear the entire conversation while she stood there. Obligations? Responsibility? Um, what?

Her heart was already starting to beat harder against her chest. She was even starting to wonder if she should have stayed in Signal instead and went through the day in blissful ignorance.

Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions right now. Maybe she wasn't. It was hard to tell. But either way, something was going on right under her nose. Something seemed to be showing her that what she knew of her family was far littler than she thought. That the normal—as normal as a life on Remnant could get, anyway—life she'd known all her life might just be an illusion instead. That things were breaking down, with an unknown percentage of being glued back together. Her parents wouldn't be talking in hushed voices if they had nothing to hide, right?

Right?

She wasn't sure if she could also take that when she was already struggling with her occasional dreams. Dreams that kept proving how it was unfair she left her old life just like that—how she shouldn't have left everyone behind. Family, friends, her cat… Crazily enough, that included her old exes that made her want to file a restraining order against them.

So before anything else happened, Lune swallowed down the lump in her throat, and rapped her knuckles against the door. One, two, three.

The voices immediately hushed. She heard footsteps heading her way and, schooling her expression into that of a sheepish one, shaky at best, she waited for the door to be pulled open. Keep calm, and pretend that she'd overheard nothing. She'd managed to count to five when she heard the all-too-familiar click of the door's lock and the creak of its hinges as it swung open.

"Hi." Lune said, looking up and meeting her mother's eyes.

"Hey yourself, kiddo," Mom replied. The warmth of her voice was convincing enough that, if it weren't for what Lune had overheard earlier, she would have been none the wiser. Her voice wasn't even unusually high in pitch, remaining nice and even and ever-so-confident. Mom smiled—but then her eyes caught notice of Lune's bandaged arm. Now she was frowning.

Lune swallowed. She felt the urge to hide her arm despite knowing that it was a pointless endeavor. "I can explain—"

"Inside."

"…Right."

All the girl could do was zip her mouth shut, nod, and slip past the woman to make her way towards the small, but cozy and carpeted living room. Lune plopped down on the sofa, noticed her dad sitting on a chair across the small table between them, and gave an awkward wave. Dad's lips were previously set in a thin line; it now curled up into a small smile. And amused, he waved back. But then his eyes slid towards her arm, too, and now Lune felt twice as worse.

"Alright," Mom began, sitting beside her. The woman took a deep breath and exhaled. "Apparently, the day's not finished surprising me. Care to tell me why you've got a wound on your arm?"

She had to admit, the fact that her mother wasn't in full-on panic mode was pretty impressive. She kinda expected her to blow up like a volcano. Like, y'know, the same way she had when that shopkeeper from several years ago denied her service just because she was a faunus. River Beryl was, instead, waiting for her daughter to answer, an eyebrow raised.

"Um." Lune began ever-so-eloquently. "It was a Beowolf. A straggler. It kinda-sorta… bit me."

"It _what?_ " On second thought, maybe her mom wasn't that calm after all. The tone of voice said it all. From Lune's periphery, she noticed her dad sit a bit straighter, the worry on his face clear as day.

Grace under pressure, Lune reminded herself. Amelie was an expert on this, and so should she be. She smoothed her skirt and leaned back on the sofa. "I got worried when Dad didn't come to teach today, so I decided to go home and check up on you guys." Lune explained. "I mean, okay, I should've taken Yang's dad's word for it, but I had to be sure." Her awkward chuckle sounded a lot more like a strangled cry. Oops. "I'll admit, maybe I didn't think things completely through."

"Well, sweetie, I'm sorry to say this, but you definitely didn't," Dad said. At least he hadn't been stern; he was being gentler about this than his wife. "I was alright. Just helping your mom with something. I was going to go back to teaching the next day."

"I'm glad, then." Lune said with a small smile. "Someone's gotta keep throwing all those balls at me."

Her dad laughed softly.

"And you managed to kill it? The Grimm?" Mom then asked. The girl might have been half-offended at her own mother's incredulous expression if it weren't for the current situation. Then again, the woman did know that Lune wasn't a combat expert just yet, let alone a Grimm exterminator. She'd, er, seen her report card once the mid-term mark had come and gone.

Lune shook her head. "I managed to stab it in the eye, but no, not exactly."

"Then what happened?"

"Well… I dunno if you'll actually believe me, but the Beacon Academy headmaster and his assistant was there. The lady with the riding crop made this huge ice spike and"—she gestured with her hand forward, as if she was holding said riding crop herself—"stabbed the Beowolf with it right in the middle."

And then, inwardly, she winced. Maybe referring to Glynda as "the woman with the riding crop" didn't sound so great and so ten-year-old-like as it did in her mind. It actually made her feel like she was pretending to be someone far younger. Oh well, better that she sounded more childish than mature, even though her parents _had_ accepted it as fact that their darling daughter was actually acting older—and maybe more peculiar—than kids her age.

She never did wonder how they'd taken that in stride so easily.

"Glynda," her mom muttered, voice so low Lune almost didn't catch it. " _Ozpin_."

The girl blinked at the flash of irritation on River's face. _Something_ did _happen earlier_ , she thought.

"Oh, so you know them," Lune said anyway. It wasn't like her mom wouldn't expect her not to hear that anyway, not when two out of three family members had extremely good hearing. River's was better than the average human, but it didn't hold a candle to those whose animal appendages were in the form of ears.

"Ugh, you can say that," Mom said. There was a strange look on her face then, something that couldn't decide whether it wanted to civil or otherwise. It was as if she was recalling something, honestly. Something recent. But then she shook her head. "Let me guess, he's told you about how I spent my time at Beacon and etcetera, etcetera."

"He did. But before he and Glynda left, he asked me about fairy tales." Lune said. She shrugged. "I don't even know why. Is he always… that weird, Mom?"

It was just the briefest of moments, right after the word _fairy tales_ escaped Lune's lips. Fast enough to completely go unnoticed if one was unfocused, but slow enough if one was otherwise. Lune happened to be the latter; that River stiffened just like that, like a deer caught in headlights, was something that the younger faunus definitely didn't miss. It only happened for, like, a split second, but she was definitely going to remember that for a long, long time.

"Yep. Weird as hell. But he means well," Mom said, like she hadn't just shut down earlier. "Usually. _Anyway_. Sweetie, your arm? Let me see."

Just like that, her mother steered the subject back to the original one. Without subtlety, without much fanfare. It was questionable bordering on suspicious, alright, but Lune nodded all the same and went through the slow process of unwrapping her bandage. As she let her mom hold her forearm, the sight of the bite marks shaped in a convex immediately greeted the woman.

Mom took in a sharp breath as she let her fingers gently graze over the wound. Lune felt it sting—no, felt it ache worse than that. It definitely wasn't completely healed yet.

"Kid, I know this isn't exactly what you'll want to hear, but…" Her blue eyes met Lune's green ones. "If it weren't for your Aura, that would have torn your arm into two. Don't get me wrong; I can't put into words just how relieved I am to see you safe. But I'm not gonna lie, you had one hell of a narrow escape."

A narrow escape. She could feel the word repeat itself inside her mind, over and over like a broken record. She'd known that, deep down. But after hearing her own mother say it, the consequences of her actions became even more real, more weighty. Lune could feel a chill go down her spine.

Was she going to have nightmares about this? She wasn't really sure. The Beowolf had been a nasty piece of work and she'll never forget the effect it had on her, but… she couldn't let a Grimm encounter knock her down. Not when she still had quite a bit to climb. Certainly, though, she wasn't keen on having this happen again. She'd very much like all her limbs attached to her body, thank you very much, and she still had a great deal of living to do before she ever decided it was high time to kick the bucket.

"I'm sorry," Lune said. This time, she meant it completely. No trace of her usual, lazy drawl, just a genuine tone that denoted complete regret. "I won't do that again, I promise."

Her mother stared at her for a second, gauging the sincerity in her daughter's tone of voice and the genuineness of her expression. She then nodded after seemingly confirming that Lune _was_ sorry.

"Good. You've got plenty more years ahead of you, sweetie, so let's not see them cut short." Her mom's expression then shifted into a gentler, kinder one. "…Does it still hurt?"

Like hell. "Yeah."

"Then let's see if I can ease that pain a bit."

Lune gave a nod. Her mom smiled at her one more time before fixing her expression into a serious, more focused one as she hovered her free hand over the healing wound. Lune felt her mom's warm fingertips then rest on her skin and…

And…

River Beryl's hand _glowed_.

"But what…" Lune trailed off, suddenly feeling strangely soothed as her arm felt nice and warm all over. The soft, white light covering her mother's hand had spread to her wound, and it just occurred to the younger faunus that she was being _healed._ Right in front of her eyes. Almost like magic.

There weren't enough words in her current vocabulary to sufficiently describe how the whole process was like. But maybe she could just liken it to getting high from a drug—then again, she'd never done that stuff and will never attempt to. Ever. So instead, maybe she could say that it was like having a nice, cold shower on the hottest summer day. It was nice and refreshing. That worked.

Still, whichever simile worked the best here, the end result was the same. Lune felt _good_ , and it was almost euphoric.

The light then faded, her mom lifting her hand and revealing a healed arm… that was still bore the marks of the Beowolf that had bit Lune. Scars. That was what they were now; she didn't feel it ache when she moved it experimentally. She even poked a finger at the mostly-repaired skin and it revealed nothing at all, just the sensation of having a finger pushing against flesh.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

"Sorry, kiddo, I can't do anything about the scars. It's way out of my league," Mom then said sheepishly as she noticed her daughter inspecting her recently-finished work. She then wryly smiled at her husband, who really looked like he was one sudden movement away from springing into action. "And honey? You might want to look less worried and more relieved. I'm fine. _We_ _'re_ fine."

That snapped Vert Beryl out of his trance. He shook his head and gave an awkward grin, relaxing back into his own chair.

"Right." Dad said.

"Was that a semblance, Mom?" Lune asked. She thought it made sense, since it wasn't abnormal for a person to have that as something which made them special. Even though she wasn't entirely sure how a woman like her own mother ended up being a healer of sorts when her personality was… well, not exactly of the smiling-nurse-at-the-hospital variety. Oh well. Semblances will be semblances.

"You can also say that," Mom said. Somehow, that sounded too automatic for Lune's liking. It didn't help that there was that smile on her face that leaned towards secretive rather than honest… and that River's tone of voice held some kind of finality to it.

"Oh. Okay." Lune said. She couldn't really dig deeper when her mother had that look in her eyes, too. One that pretty much told her to just accept that answer, please.

"In any case," Mom drew back and crossed her arms. "Now that that's happened and we definitely can't have you wandering back to Signal this late in the day, you better help out with serving dinner."

The rabbit girl gave a salute. "Aye-aye, cap'n. Anything else?"

River exchanged glances with Vert. The two of them nodded at each other, as if some silent message was exchanged between them, and both of them stared back at Lune. The rabbit girl suddenly wondered if she was going to be grounded or something.

"No," Mom said. "Just go on up to your room. There's still something your father and I still have to talk about—privately. I'll call you down when we're done."

Apparently not.

"Okay, then." Lune said. "Is…" She hesitated at first. "Everything okay between the two of you?"

There went the silent message exchange again, their eyes doing all the talking. But this time, something about their reaction made Lune feel like squirming from where she sat. This was definitely one of those moments when she wished she was just like any other kids her age, unaware of subtleties and just moving continuously forward.

"We're fine, kiddo. It's just stuff that we need to get out of the way," Dad said with a reassuring smile. Well, as reassuring as he could make it; he wasn't a good actor. "Seriously."

Her mom nodded in agreement, and Lune decided that, no, she didn't want to know at all.

"I know, I shouldn't pry. I'll go on then." Lune gave the two of them a small smile, turned away, and headed towards the wooden staircase. But several steps later, she paused. "Oh yeah, there was a reason why I wanted to go home. It slipped my mind earlier."

"Yeah?" Mom said.

Lune grinned. "I finally know what my semblance is. Water manipulation."

This time, River Beryl's smile was a genuine one. "Nice. You better show us later, you hear?"

"Gladly!" Lune said. "I'll go on up now."

"You do that."

Lune turned away again and set course for her next destination. Whatever hushed conversation she hear start up once she was gone, though, she chose not to overhear.

So that was it for now, the girl decided as she took one step up the staircase after another, gripping the railing as she did so. There _were_ some things her mom and dad were hiding. Their peculiar actions today explained it all, and somehow… somehow, maybe it was connected to Ozpin and Glynda's appearance today.

It was all assumptions at this point—she had no concrete proof—but somehow the thought that the dynamic duo being in Patch made more sense if it involved her mother in some way. They probably visited her or something, exchanged words that made the usually confident and sharp-tongued River Beryl skittish and constantly looking for a way out. Lune could picture that happening without her bullshit-sensor suddenly going active.

But as she'd thought, until she finally saw it happen right before her two eyes, she could only make up stories and hope she guessed wrong.

* * *

Dinnertime had come and gone without much fanfare. Lune had helped her mom prepare dinner, as she'd agreed to do, and after that all three members of the Beryl family sat around the table and shared bits and pieces of how their day went. Lune's semblance had become the focus of their conversation, actually , and with a proud grin, the rabbit girl had made her glassful of water float in the air before letting it drop back down with a splash.

That basically improved her parents' moods. That was today's silver lining. River had told the girl that things would only get better from there, and Vert was all-too-willing to help Lune improve her semblance whenever he could.

Lune had merely nodded and smiled at that one, not trusting her mouth then. She didn't exactly have fond memories of her dad's training regimen.

Anyway, the time slowly ticked by. And now, with the moon high up in the night sky, Lune was back in her room and ready for bed. All she wanted to do just then was to sleep the rest of the night away and move on to the next day. There were much for her to do back at Signal, such as her much-needed review for her approaching finals, and while the very thought of it made her wish she could stay in bed forever, she knew some responsibilities had to be dealt with. She needed to pass her exams, improve her overall school ranking, and get a shot at the tournament so she could join Yang or Vanilla.

But before the girl could tuck herself in, after sending her friends a quick message via scroll about how she'll be spending her night here, she heard a knock on the door.

"You know you can come in anytime, Mom," Lune said out loud. She needn't ask who i was. It was River who always knocked before entering.

"Right," said the woman. The doorknob was twisted, pushed, and River Beryl emerged into the room with a smile on her face. She then sat herself down at the foot of Lune's bed. "Nice night tonight."

"Lots of stars, yeah," Lune nodded.

"Like your ceiling's."

Silence then ensued, neither side knowing how to push beyond small talk. Eventually though, Mom must've had enough.

"You're probably wondering what's up with your father and I earlier, huh?" Mom asked, going straight to the point. She let her hands support her weight on the bed as she leaned back, crossing her legs.

"Yup," Lune answered. She stuffed her scroll under her pillow and fully faced her mom. "But you don't have to tell me why if you don't wanna."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"...You're a good kid, you know that? I swear, you're the best daughter a parent could ever ask for." River sighed. "Which is why I honestly feel bad about keeping you in the dark like this. That's not usually my style."

"I know."

And then, much to Lune's surprise, her mother suddenly looked vulnerable just then. Her smile was shaky at best, and somehow Lune had the feeling that the woman was just… struggling to keep herself together. The girl immediately felt bad and wondered if there was something she could do. Something to get the normal River Beryl back.

"Can you come over here and give me a hug?" Mom asked.

Lune was all too willing to comply. Nodding and not letting her mind ponder at the sudden request, she crawled over to her mom's spot and wrapped her arms around her body. The woman immediately hugged back, and god, there was just something about the way she did it that had Lune feeling twice as worried for her.

"Look, kiddo," Mom said as she kept holding onto her daughter. "You have no idea how many things I want to tell you right now. But it's just… I'm not ready for that, you know? I just want you to go through Signal without that weighing you down. It's pretty heavy stuff."

"It's okay, Mom. I understand," Lune said soothingly. But on the inside, her mind was brimming with questions. She stopped them at once.

"I know you do." The woman sighed again. "But whatever happens, just now that I love you and I never regretted having you, okay? We never know what can happen in the future, but that's why we make the most of the present."

"I hope you're not about to disappear on me," Lune decided to say jokingly, an attempt at lightening up the mood. It was poor at best, if she had to be honest with herself.

"Not if I can help it," came her mom's response. River then pulled away from Lune and patted the girl affectionately on the head. "Alright, enough of that. You've still got combat school tomorrow, so I'm going to go now and let you have your beauty sleep. That's all I wanted to say, really. I know you've been thrown off by all the strangeness earlier."

"You've practically pointed that out already," Lune said. That made her mother ruffle her hair, playfully this time.

River then stood up from the bed, flashing Lune one more smile. "Well, then, good night."

"Night."

After that, her mom stepped out of the room, gently closing the door behind her. Lune heard her footsteps fade away towards the room across hers, and after several seconds of ensuring that she was well and truly alone now… she frowned and dropped her facade.

So. Things really weren't as they seemed.

She knew there was one gigantic jigsaw puzzle out there for her, ready to be pieced together so she could get her answers. But right now, she thought that there was just too much on her plate that she'd rather focus on them than... this. It sounded like trouble. She wasn't fond of trouble.

Her mom was tough, anyway. She shouldn't worry too much. Let the adults fix whatever their problem was.

Yet…

Despite constantly telling herself that things will be alright, Lune couldn't help but think that whatever this was, it wasn't over. It might just be the beginning.

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaaand that's a wrap! As per usual, I'm hoping it's good enough to make up for the wait. I get distracted a lot, so quality and etc is... questionable. So, things aren't apparently what they seem, and I'm honestly looking forward to where I could take this. Obviously, I won't be rushing to that point at once, but it's nice to finally have something to think about on my spare time. XD Not much stuff happening for this chapter, I guess, but I'm just glad this is completed.

Thanks, as usual, to all you folks who favorited, reviewed, or followed my story! I hope I can continue to write as well as I could.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Today was apparently going to be different. Not so much that it started just like any other day, but it sure as hell broke the monotony of daily combat training, studying, and semblance practicing that has been going on for the past two years. And, while it wasn't going to be a complete distraction either, that was perfectly fine for Lune Beryl. She just needed a few moments to pour her attention onto something else before everything she'd put aside came back to crash on her like a grand piano would in a cartoon strip.

Today was the day Ruby Rose approached her for help. With combat.

"Um…" Lune started, her sleepy-looking eyes widening a fair bit. Still remembering _who_ exactly should and would be teaching the red-haired, energetic girl, she wasn't entirely sure what to do. Or for that matter, what to say.

The younger girl had approached Lune right before she could enter her dorm room for a power nap, catching her completely surprised. She'd meant to just laze away her one free hour before she went to class again as her friends were out doing their own thing. With Vanilla retreating to the library to do research for Weapons Creation class and with Yang hanging out with her other friends, Lune didn't really have much to do.

Well, okay, she had a pile of work to sift through, but she was going to do that _later._

And… oh hey, was that a trail of rose petals she saw behind Ruby? Lune momentarily looked over the redhead's shoulder and concluded that, indeed, they were. If Ruby had immediately dashed towards her after class with the use of her semblance, that meant she was _that_ eager to get her help. Such was the gravity of the situation, then.

"Please, please, pretty please?" Ruby interrupted Lune's thoughts. Her silver eyes were wide open as she stared up at the rabbit girl, both hands clasped together close to her chest. "I just really, reaaaally need to practice on some moves and stances. I know Dad and Uncle Qrow hasn't said anything about what I _could_ do so far, but… yeah, I know I'm not very good at fighting yet." She then laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck.

Oh, yeah, that was right. Lune had remembered this belatedly, but as of this time, Ruby Rose was still… learning the ropes, to put it kindly. Just the memory of having watched one of Ruby's classes earlier in the week had her wincing in sympathy.

Really. She wasn't even kidding. Ruby's knowledge on weaponry was to be green with envy for and her class performance showed it (well, partly, because all she had was Ruby and Yang's word), but the kid could hardly do much when she started to wield one. Her movements were always awkward, her stances constantly corrected (by a constantly amused Qrow, too), and Lune was starting to believe more and more that a scythe was the only weapon this girl could expertly wield. Which would be kinda ironic when, by default, scythes were the absolute hardest to learn for combat purposes. There was a reason why nobody scored well from tests involving those weapons.

(And thankfully, no one ended up losing limbs in the process, either.)

Gotta admire Ruby's never-give-up attitude, though. Ruby was always quick to recover from a failure. The determination Lune could see in Ruby's eyes never disappeared even once.

Maybe she was just judging the younger girl too quickly. It had only been, what, two weeks since Ruby started attending classes here? Lune knew the redhead had potential—all that was missing was Crescent Rose to completely mold her fighting style. Heck, maybe Crescent Rose was built to suit _her,_ instead of her training herself to suit _it_.

She had to admit, though, it _was_ cute how Ruby fawned over every new weapon she ended up handling. That it was, quote and unquote, super-fantastic-awesome she was holding an honest-to-goodness weapon. She was certain she'd even seen Ruby cradling a sheathed katana one time. Yang had laughed the whole thing off and accepted that as normal.

"Okay then... I'll bite. Why me?" Lune decided to ask before her thoughts took an even weirder turn. She couldn't help the yawn that escaped her lips then, either; she'd been looking forward to that nap… "Because let me tell you, Ruby, I'm _nowhere_ as good as your older sister."

"Oh, pshhh. You already know why," Ruby said as if it were obvious enough. "You killed a Grimm before! Yang told me all about it." There was a pause. And then, almost hesitantly, she added, "…And, uh, okay, she _also_ told me I should go find you because she's going to be busy."

"Oh." Typical Yang. "Not that I'm saying no just yet, but don't you also have your other friends to help you out? I know my friend did when I had my own share of trouble."

Lune inwardly smiled at the memory. One of these days, she was going to treat Vanilla to an ice cream place or something for being such a kind friend.

"I guess so. But…" Ruby actually blushed. Whether it was due to being called cute or it was due to something else, Lune didn't know. The redhead awkwardly played with her hands as she explained, "I don't really have any friends yet. Other than you."

"For serious?"

Ruby nodded. "I mean, I'm trying, but then someone starts talking to me and suddenly I don't know what to say. I can talk about weapons all day long, but most of my classmates don't look all that interested and they bring up something else I don't think I know about. The conversation starts dying and they start leaving and then… and then…" She stopped her rambling and made a helpless gesture.

"Socially awkward, right. Can't believe I forgot that," Lune said, almost to herself than to Ruby. "Well, Ruby, I'm not the best person around for advice-giving, but I'd say just give it a bit more time and some people will just warm up to you. You shine just as brightly as Yang; it's only a matter of time before they realize that."

"Really?"

"Really." She then smiled. "Chin up. You'll find someone who shares your interests. Just keep talking to your classmates and you'll see who it is."

"T-thanks," Ruby said. Her lips stretched into a much, much brighter grin. "Y'know, I don't get why you say you're not awesome when it's obvious that you do."

"Because I really am _not_ —"

"You _are_!" Ruby nodded fiercely. "So come on, please help me out? I swear I won't bother you too much! You're, like, one step closer to becoming a Huntress by slaying a Grimm, too. Have I mentioned that was totally cool? Because it was _totally cool_."

Lune nearly grimaced. It was painfully obvious that Ruby saw things in a wholly different way than she did. The way the redhead put it, it was as if the faunus had just participated in a fight of epic proportions with all the suspense and drama amped up to the maximum. That she'd fought valiantly, like a heroine slaying an evil dragon; that she'd done her part alongside mankind's continuous fight against the Grimm; and that she was a role model as a result. But no, that wasn't to be. To Lune, it felt more like she was fighting tooth and nail just to get out of that encounter alive. She almost didn't.

She absentmindedly rubbed her hand over the scars given to her by the Beowolf, forcing her mind elsewhere before she completely delved into that line of thinking. "Yang, you say."

"Yep! Yang," Ruby happily said.

 _That_ _'s right. Think about Yang and not that near-death scenario._ Lune decided that maybe she might have words with the blonde about what Ruby knew. Because, last she remembered, she hadn't embellished the story she shared to her and Vanilla the day after that Grimm attack. She'd told it as truthfully as she could—she even showed her scars. But apparently, the very prospect of killing a Grimm might have excited Yang so much that she ended up thinking Lune really did do the deed and was just being too modest.

Anyway. It really appeared that Ruby was resolute on having Lune help her out. No one else. And with that look on her face, that awestruck expression that told her that she was more of a hero in Ruby's eyes than some average Joe… she couldn't very well say no, couldn't she? She was hardly a good teacher, but she was going to have to do her best. Maybe she could even get Vanilla to help her out—that kindhearted girl had more of that spark of leadership in her than Lune would ever have.

"Fine," Lune said, giving in. Before she could say anything else, she felt her back collide against the door as Ruby tacked her into a hug. She bit back a yelp as she felt the doorknob press against her, hard, from the impact.

"Yes! Thank you!" Ruby's arms were wound tight around Lune's waist. "See? You _are_ awesome!"

The rabbit faunus could only awkwardly pat the girl on the back as she slowly felt her head grow lighter and lighter. "Okay, okay. But not right now, alright? I'm tired."

"Oh! Uh, right. You did have that pret-ty sleepy look on your face…"

Apparently, she wasn't fooling anyone. Even more apparently, her acting game was getting weak. "Anyway, you can come to my house and watch my friend and I have a go at combat practice this weekend. Maybe you'll learn some things. So…" She was _also_ pretty sure the white stars clouding her vision had nothing to do with hallucinations. She tried blinking them away to no avail. "Can you… let go now? I can't breathe."

* * *

Three in the afternoon. Combat class. And Lune had almost won against Vanilla Blackthorn.

It was quite the feat, actually, when her opponent flitted in and out of invisibility and ensured that her every movement was difficult to predict. Lune would manage to sidestep what would've been a punch, but the proceeding leg sweep would always knock her down on her butt. Painfully. Then Vanilla would make a few steps back, her feet moving on the floor lightly enough that she was almost floating, and she'd spend her semblance's downtime by keeping out of reach of Lune's own strikes. By the time Lune was about to score an actual hit, poof! Well, not _literally_ poof, but Vanilla went invisible all the same.

It was quite annoying. At the same time, it was also Vanilla's cunning at work.

...But what about Lune's semblance, you ask? How come it hadn't seen much action?

See, other than the fact that there was no water source in the training room, Lune just wasn't at that good at waterkinesis (or was it water manipulation? water _bending_?) yet. Sure, she could say that she could make a bucketful of water float and encircle her as she moved her hands around, like some kind of water magi out of a fantasy novel or some character out of an animated show she vaguely remembered. She could shape the water in any way she could imagine, ruin peoples' day by making them wet from head to toe, and with enough concentration, make them act like a shield. But then her control still had the tendency to slip from her at inappropriate moments. Not to mention overdoing it made her feel mentally exhausted.

It was just, Lune's skill level was still shoddy at best. That was the only way to put it.

She'd tried her best after she, out of desperation, had Yang chuck a water bottle at her from the bleachers because she didn't bring her own water source. She'd done her own dancing around Vanilla, almost _literally_ with those rhythmic flurry of strikes and smoother movements learned over the years, and she'd given the older girl a run for her money. She'd shown Vanilla the result of two years of additional training with her. Heck, Lune was proud to say that she was improving a lot more than before. Even Qrow made an impressed comment after she'd twirled out of Vanilla's strike and gracefully flipped around her to deliver a smarting blow at her back.

But then she made the mistake of acknowledging Qrow's rare praises as she turned her head towards the gray-haired man to say something in return.

Lune had been on her back before she'd realized what was happening. When she'd opened her eyes and had propped herself up with her elbows, feeling a strange ache in her chest the whole time, she'd noticed Vanilla lowering a seemingly raised foot. And then she noticed a shoe-shaped mark on her inconveniently white shirt.

Believe it or not, that was how it ended. After several minutes of flipping, cartwheeling, jumping about, and some waterworks that resulted to a swift change of clothing afterward, all it took was something ridiculously anticlimactic to finish the fight.

Note to self: never keep your eyes off the opponent even for just one millisecond.

"You did well," Vanilla said to her, approaching the still-fallen faunus and extending a hand. She awkwardly tugged at one of her braids with her free hand as she added, "Um, for what it's worth, I'm sorry I had to do that. You know I couldn't just pass up the opportunity."

Lune shook her head, took hold of her friend's hand, and felt herself pulled to her feet. Even after two years, she regretted to say she hadn't done much growing; she grew a few centimeters, sure, but compared to Vanilla… yeah, it appeared that her second puberty was going to affect her at a much later time at this rate. Then again, maybe that was for the best because she most definitely did _not_ miss this one, particular, _leaky_ aspect of being a growing girl.

 _You know what, I_ _'m going to stop that line of thinking right now because that's the kind that makes_ anyone _feel awkward._

"Always take the shot," the rabbit girl replied with a reassuring pat on Vanilla's shoulder. "That's what you always tell me every time we practice."

The older girl laughed softly. Vanilla's skill with a bow was pretty impressive—the statement applied to her the most and she knew it. "Right."

The two exchanged grins before turning towards Qrow, awaiting the man's verdict.

Even until now, Qrow Branwen was still their combat teacher. That didn't mean that there weren't any others to teach the students the more particular aspects of it, but it just so happened that it was often the man who taught them. And honestly, Qrow wouldn't have it any other way. Mostly because it had become more and more apparent to him that Lune's batch was actually a lot more talented. And a _lot_ more behaved. It was best kind of class a teacher could ever have, even for someone too jaded by the whole Huntsman business.

For someone who couldn't help but feel a stab of pity for these poor kids who might just become pawns in the grander scheme of things, anyway.

(Not heroes. Never heroes.)

"Alright, the much-awaited verdict," Qrow began, pushing himself off from the wall he'd been leaning on. He approached the two girls and crossed his arms. "Beryl. Blackthorn. I know I'm a pretty damn difficult person to please, but props to you both for giving a much, much better performance than before. For one, that's pretty damn clever of you to use your semblance like that, Blackthorn."

Vanilla smiled wider. stood straighter, and was definitely feeling pretty proud of herself right now. Qrow then looked at Lune next, and… well, he smirked. It was obvious that he noticed how her whole posture screamed lazy or indifferent while her expression told him everything he needed to know about what she really felt: nervousness and something along the lines of not really looking forward to what the man had to say.

"As for you," he started. "Your movements are smoother, and you finally look like you actually know what you're doing. Good on you."

"Er, thanks?" A compliment and a not-quite-a-complement at the same time. She didn't know what she was supposed to expect.

"You could've been more prepared or competent if you utilized your semblance more, but at least you managed to make your opponent struggle. Even just a bit." He elaborated. Then he shook his head. Just like that, he swung down the hammer. "But next time, whatever you want to say when someone talks to you, save it for _after_ a fight. A mistake like that's the difference between getting out of a battle unscathed and a Boarbatusk spearing you right through the chest. Let's not add one more scar to your collection, alright?"

Her hand twitched. And her arm felt like it wanted to ache again. It wasn't doing her any favors being reminded of _that_ particular day, but whatever. Lune murmured her affirmative reply. And unintentionally, she yawned. A good workout always had her feeling drained.

"Still with me? Good. Lastly, keep working at improving your semblance. Because I'm not gonna lie, kid, your fighting prowess is fine, but your skill with that needs to catch up once you need to use it more often. Just remember, that's a part of you. Treat it as if it were one of your arms or legs—not another separate entity."

"Noted."

Deciding that was a satisfactory enough reply, Qrow turned away from the pair who then walked back to the bleachers, clapping his hands once to get everyone else's attention. The rest of the class immediately hushed their chatter and attentively looked at him. "And that concludes today's class. You already know what needs to be worked on, so get to it whenever you could."

A series of murmurs and nodding heads were what he got in reply.

He then crossed his arms and met everyone's stare with his intense one. It was almost, _almost_ hard to believe that he wasn't mildly drunk just then when Lune had seen him take a few discreet sips from his flask earlier. The man had even noticed several hours ago and had _winked_ at her. "By the way, you better have learned a thing or two from Beryl and Blackthorn's fight. If you didn't… well, you'll be the one suffering the consequences, not me. All I know is that I did my job. Dismissed."

And that concluded today's combat class.

The rest of the students dispersed with all the eagerness of one looking forward to spending the rest of the day however they wanted. Which meant grinning faces, loud chatter, and surprisingly happy waves sent at their amused teacher when the man had done nothing but bluntly point out the good and bad points—mostly the latter—of their earlier practice fights. The room was empty in a matter of minutes.

Well, almost empty.

"Hey, Beryl, c'mere for a sec," Qrow called out from behind just as Lune was about to step past the swinging double doors. Hearing this, the friends she was following from behind stopped as well, curiously regarding the faunus as if to ask if she did something particularly attention-seeking.

"Don't look at me. I have no idea." Lune gave a small, it-can't-be-helped shrug and gestured to Yang and Vanilla to keep walking. "Just go on if you want to. I'll catch up."

"You sure? Alright! I've still got some stuff to do today." Yang said with a grin.

"Involving boys?" Lune wryly asked. Yang _had_ started noticing them for a while now, but she hadn't gone beyond that. Yet.

"My lips are sealed." Yang winked. "I'll just see you later for some movie-watching—which you're not getting out of or else I'll sic Ruby on you." She raised a fist, which Lune promptly bumped with hers, then went on ahead with a loud hum that sounded remarkably reminiscent of a song from a lifetime away.

Lune turned towards the remaining other person in the room and noted how Vanilla didn't move one inch. She simply smiled her usual, sweet smile and moved to lean against the nearest wall. She wasn't one for blocking paths, even if it was as empty as it could be at the moment. "I'll wait. Take your time."

"You sure? I dunno how long this'll take."

"You know I'm patient, Lune."

"Fair enough." Lune gave her friend a small, grateful smile before turning away and walking to Qrow… who definitely didn't waste any time pulling out his hip flask and taking a swig of whatever alcoholic drink was in there right now. The man wasn't normally discreet and couldn't give a damn about who spotted him, but it wasn't like he had any choice but to be when a certain headmistress was screeching at him whenever he was caught in the act. That woman had one hell of a voice box.

 _I swear it_ _'s a miracle his liver hasn't malfunctioned yet_ , Lune thought as she stopped before the gray-haired man and titled her head slightly in curiosity. _I mean, seriously,_ how _does he manage to even_ like _the stuff? Alcohol tastes awful... Or I think I remember it tasting awful._

Apparently, she didn't realize she'd ended up staring at the flask. She only did when Qrow followed her line of sight, when one corner of his mouth curled up into an amused smile as he lowered the thing, twisted the cap close, and stuffed it back into a pouch normally hidden by the cloak he wore most of the time. Small mercies, her not blushing. But she did feel a faint pang of embarrassment. Qrow just managed to read her _too_ easily every time she pretended to be nonchalant.

"Yeah, kid, I'm going to recommend against you trying stuff like this out," he said. "At least until you're old enough."

That got her blinking and rapidly shaking her head. The reaction was accompanied with a look of exaggerated disgust. "God, no. That stuff does weird things to your brain."

"Good, more for me," Qrow said. After a brief chuckle, he decided to drop that topic. "So. Anyway. A little bird told me a niece of mine is going to have you as a mentor of sorts for my class."

"If by little bird you meant a certain girl in a red, hooded cloak who's _also_ said niece of yours, then yeah, that's the plan." Lune readily answered. "Or at least, I'm just going to give her a few pointers to get her on her way. Is it going to be a bother, sir?"

"Pft, no. In fact, by all means. Kid could use a lot of help. You should've seen the look on her face when she told me all about it." Qrow smiled fondly at the thought of his favorite niece. "I know she's… okay, she's bad at it right now. I'm not gonna lie. But she's not one to give up too easily, too."

Lune immediately realized that this might just be that moment when she can steer this a bit towards what would eventually happen, anyway. If she had to be honest with herself, she wasn't entirely sure if things would still occur the way she still remembered or they would occur a la Chaos Theory. So far, this particular train had yet to be derailed.

But either way, it wouldn't hurt to just be sure that very thing would happen, right? It wasn't like she was going to go full-on master manipulator mode. Other than the fact that she was never such a person in the first place because that just made her guilty as hell, she knew she just didn't have that kind of right. All she wanted was certainty. Nothing else.

"Well then, I'll try my best. But I bet she'd love to have you as a more personal teacher too," Lune decided to say.

"I'll admit, the thought had crossed my mind once or twice," Qrow said. "We'll see. There's still plenty more types of weapons she and the rest of her class hasn't tried yet. There's still a good chance she'll take a shine to something—kind of like you with pistols or daggers."

The faunus actually relieved to hear that. She then sighed; when was the last time she'd actually spent some time with Ruby? She was in Signal more often than not, but then she'd watched Ruby grow from an adorable little girl to a much more adorable ten-year-old kid. "It _is_ amazing that she keeps trying no matter what, though. She's really going to be a Huntress or die trying. She knows what she really wants."

"And, what, you don't? I thought you did, kid, or else we wouldn't be speaking here now."

Lune didn't answer at once. Instead, with the sudden need to distract herself, she focused on a small puddle of water nearby—remnants of earlier's sparring match, obviously—and let her semblance activate. The water started floating in the air in a serpentine-like manner, proceeding to wrap around her arm just as she'd willed it to. She could also feel it drenching her arm in the process; manipulating water was always a very wet business. Qrow regarded the spectacle with mild amusement.

Once upon a time, she might have had a more positive thought about the whole Huntsman business. She'd actually looked forward to fighting one someday and proving she _could_ be a badass like everyone here in Remnant, at the same time showing the world that there wasn't any point to the humans' pointless racism against the faunus. But after that Grimm incident…

Okay, so that still made her want to kill even more of the bastards because, just like she'd realized then, they didn't deserve to live. That part remained the same as ever, and so did her wishes of getting through the future Beacon attack alive when the Grimm came to invade. But at the same time, that incident shook her up a lot more than she thought. She was trying to remain optimistic about it, that it wouldn't be so bad when she encountered more in the future because _she_ _'ll be prepared this time_ , but it took considerable effort on her part. It was mentally taxing.

"Kinda-sorta. But only because I don't know what else I want to be." It was somewhat true. She knew she'll never be a hero; she had no intentions to be one. That was more of Ruby's future role. And maybe, her future friends' too. She'll play her role while they played theirs.

Lune suddenly lost control of the water and it splashed down on her feet. And Qrow's. Oops. She sighed as if that was enough as a gesture of apology. "I'm fine, though, so please don't be concerned. It's not all bad. Besides, think of it this way: as a faunus, either I learn how to kick butt or _some_ humans end up kicking mine. All the time."

"Fair enough. You've got your opinion, and I've got mine," Qrow said. She knew the man didn't have a very good opinion at his chosen line of work, so she figured he was being diplomatic at best.

"Yup." Lune nodded.

"At least you're getting serious with everything Signal's throwing at you now." For a moment, he seemed to be scrutinizing her. "Anyway, you're young, kid. Maybe you'll realize that this path isn't for you. Maybe you won't and you'll realize instead that you're fine staying in this one. Just be ready to suffer the consequences of whatever path you take." He shook his head. "All I know is, and I'm only telling you this because _you_ struck me as someone who understands more than the average kid your age, that this Huntsman business? It's got its glamour at times, but as a whole, it's not going to be a very pretty sight."

 _Somebody answer the phone, because I definitely called it_. "Speaking from experience, sir?"

"I wouldn't put it any other way," Qrow said.

"Right." Lune nodded. "I guess I won't ask further than that. I'd hate to bring up bad memories. That's what my mom says about the Huntsmen's line of profession too anyway, so it's not very surprising."

"Then you knew what you're signing yourself up for the moment you decided to become a Huntress."

The smile on her face was an empty one. "Possible early death, being reduced to a drunken mess somewhere down the line, and always fighting the Grimm. But I try to look at the silver linings the best I can. 'Sides, civilian life is boring anyway and I'm just going to be Grimm food. But as much as possible, I prefer living until I become one of those crazy cat ladies." Which was true to an extent. It had occurred to her that maybe being involved in the whole Huntsman business was ten times more dangerous than being cooped up within a city, but at least when the time came that her life was in danger, she could fight tooth and nail to stay alive. Being a civilian didn't give her that kind of opportunity.

 _That_ got the man regarding her in a different light. Then he shook his head and seemed to decide against the next words he had in mind. He opted for something else; this kind of conversation wasn't really what he was here for. "You're really something, kid. In any case, you've brought this conversation to the one person I was meaning to talk to you about: River Beryl. Much as I love my niece, she's not the reason for"—he gestured to himself and to her, the two of them standing there and having this kind of interaction—"this."

"…Ooookay, then. What about my mom?" Lune asked. She'd told herself that she wasn't going to bother with whatever business her mom had with Ozpin's Secret Society (oh, hey, that sounded pretty nice in her head) even though she had a faint idea as to what that was (maybe it was time to reread her secret notebook hidden in the attic), but she _was_ curious about what kind of impression the man had about her mother. It was clear that they were at least acquaintances, judging from the familiar tone he'd used when referring to River, but she thought that maybe finding out more wouldn't be so bad.

"I just want to know how she's doing."

"Oh," she said. "Well… Mom's okay. Mostly. She's not one for going outside as often as she used to. Like, it takes a miracle just to get her shopping in Vale with me—Dad does that in her place now. When he's not busy, I mean. I can walk around Vale just fine by myself now, so long as I don't go anywhere that doesn't have people in them. But when I'm with Mom…"

Lune remembered how the woman would look over her shoulder from time to time as they walked past one building to another in the city of Vale. She would take special care to look twice at an alleyway, and when she caught her daughter staring at her in wonder, she'd laugh and say she just thought she saw something pretty damn cool, like a stray dog playing with a stray cat. Then she'd smile that dry smile of hers, talk about something completely random, maybe rant about the latest asshole who pulled the faunus racism card, and eventually, she'd grow silent. By then her smile would be replaced by a straight line, just at that moment when she thought Lune wasn't looking.

She didn't know how long her mother could pretend that everything was fine. And honestly, she was getting worried—enough to _want_ to get involved.

"…She's, like, on the constant lookout for something. Like she might be attacked anytime," Lune finished quietly. "But yeah, she's still the same person who thinks it's a miracle you're still standing upright with the amount of liquor you're imbibing." It was a lame attempt to keep the mood light, but she thought it was working.

"Yeah, that's definitely River you're talking about," Qrow said, smiling dryly at that. "Well, kid, I don't really know how to put this. But believe it or not, your mom's got a reason to be careful. I think I've told this to your dad before. You were there, too, but I doubt you understood then." Qrow then patted Lune's head, an action so sudden the faunus didn't do her usual reaction of twitching her rabbit ears and stepping back with her hands protectively covering her head. "Don't worry about it too much, kid. If she's fine, then she's fine. That's the most important thing of all. It's enough to learn that nothing's gone off-rails or something."

A part of her couldn't help but wonder whether that was concern as a friend or concern as a part of said secret society. So to say. "Should there be something Mom should look out for? Do you… know something?"

It was borderline suspicious that he didn't answer at once. "…No. But you'll never really know _what_ can happen anytime, anyway."

"Oh." Lune decided she wasn't going to pry.

"But seriously, kid, don't let it get to you too much. Just enjoy your life for now. You'll find yourself missing this kind of innocence once you're neck deep into things in the future." Seeing this as his cue to put draw the curtains on this particular scene, Qrow pulled out his flask and opened it, taking a few gulps from its contents before returning it to where it came. He then began moving towards the exit of the room, where Vanilla still waited. The fourteen-year-old was no longer standing, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall and an open book in her hands. Qrow paused and looked back at Lune, his back partly turned against her. "That's all. Go on and join your friend. Have fun with whatever you crazy kids do these days."

Then he said no more.

"Right. Of course," Lune said. Shaking her head and reminding herself that she'd nearly stepped into this particular territory she was trying to avoid, she saw Qrow leave the room. After seeing him gone from sight, she padded over to Vanilla and tapped the teenager on the shoulder.

"Done?"

"Yup."

Vanilla closed her book, stuffed it back into her messenger bag, and stood up with little effort. She flashed a smile at her friend before finally exiting the classroom with her, making their way towards the dormitories from the north of here, the main building. Even after two years, Lune still appreciated how Signal Academy's layout was conveniently easy to navigate around in.

Comfortable silence was what occurred between the two of them as they made a slow but steady pace past the classrooms and offices, approaching the outer walkway connecting the main building to the dormitories. Lune idly noted that, the walls remained white and untarnished as ever, smooth as she'd seen it when she was physically five years of age. The flooring was still a nice shade of light brown, easy to her eyes.

Eventually, though, it wasn't Lune who spoke first. Vanilla did.

"So…" the girl started, looking at Lune. "What was that about, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Just about Ruby, Yang's younger sister, and me giving her some tips the next time we do an off-campus practice session. And he asked about my mom—they know each other." Lune shrugged, maybe a bit too dismissively for her liking.

"Oh," Vanilla said. She _hmm_ _'_ ed softly before giving a small nod to herself. Just like that, she managed to sense how it was something Lune wasn't keen on talking about. That was what the faunus liked about her friend; Vanilla knew to respect her friend's privacy. "If that is the case… I don't mind having someone practice with us on our free time. Ruby—she's, ah, Yang's younger stepsister, right?—seems like a sweet girl."

"A bit hyper at times. But she's sweet like you, yeah."

"I see—um, what?" Vanilla blinked, and then her cheeks flushed red. She nearly stumbled as she walked. "Lune!"

The faunus chuckled. "Just teasing. But for the record, you are. Anyway, how are you with your weapons research? Got anything in mind now?"

The happy smile on her friend's face was enough of an indication as to how well it had been going.

Lune wasn't surprised. Vanilla practically lived in the library these days, and if no one regularly dragged her out of there, she might have started consuming books for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lune herself liked to read a good book from time to time, but just like any student, she struggled keeping her attention on anything remotely academic. It always impressed her how her friend managed to spend hours with those books that would make the faunus want to stab herself with forks so she could say she died from boredom.

"A mix between a bow and a gun," Vanilla answered softly. At Lune's slightly raised, curious eyebrows, she added, "Ah, I mean… it'll be in the shape of a bow, but instead of shooting arrows, it shoots bullets. I'm still working on that idea, but I think I can also fit in some blades for its body so I can use it in melee range. Or… maybe I can just make the bow somehow fold-able so I could hide the sharp parts when not in use? Oh, that might just work!"

Vanilla's hands had clasped together in front of her as a dreamy expression on her face took over, the teenager clearly loving the idea she was tossing around inside her head. If Lune had to warrant a guess, Vanilla was probably wondering how she would work the gun part in, or what the weapon was going to be made of, how it wouldn't be a bother carrying outside of class, etcetera. It was one of those rare moments when her friend wasn't acting so reserved.

Good for her, honestly. As for Lune—

"What about you? You could have come with me to the library earlier, instead of… um, being lazy as usual."

She didn't really know what kind of weapon she wanted yet. She'd narrowed it down to something she could dual-wield—her ambidexterity developing after a childhood, Aura-less incident of accidentally slamming a door on her hand and having to use a non-dominant one for a week or two—and being comfortable both in melee and ranged instances in a jack-of-all-trades kind of way. But other than that… nada. Her crumpled paper-filled trash bin was a testament to her lack of creativity in that department. So many rejected sketches…

"I guess so, but then I wouldn't get to talk to Ruby," Lune said. She and Vanilla had reached the walkway by now, a simple passage with thick glass for walls and a nice, simple-looking black roof supported by metal beams. It would only be a matter of minutes before they reached their dorms. "And about the weapons…" She laughed awkwardly. "It's still a blank."

"Oh… Well, you'll think of something soon. You always do," Vanilla said kindly.

"I hope so, because we're due to submit our first few ideas soon for evaluation," Lune said. She made a mental count of the days left, which was… four weeks from now? She needed to check Vanilla's planner. "There's technically no rush, but you know how people are. The sooner the better."

"Yeah…"

"In any case, let's just talk about how the weekend's going to go. With Ruby joining in for a bit, we'll have to go over our old lessons again."

"Yes, and _you_ _'ll_ be doing it with me, aren't you?" The look on Vanilla's face was pleasant—sweet, even—but the eyes behind those glasses of hers gave Lune the impression she was being wordlessly dared to say otherwise. The faunus suddenly wondered how Vanilla would be like when scrubbed clean of any social awkwardness or anything else of the sort. She also wondered if that would be her doing because she'd been helping the teenager improve socially.

In any case, she definitely wasn't going to say no.

"Much as I'd love to be stupid and lazy, I can't exactly say anything but, 'sure, let's.'" Lune sighed dramatically. "Man, I suddenly miss the shyer version of you."

Vanilla laughed. "If I'm to recall correctly, you're the one who insisted on doing those bi-weekly dares involving activities no sane person would ever do."

"…But it worked, didn't it?"

"It did. Um, at least a bit. But please, don't make me hug a total stranger again. The look he gave me… oh, gosh, that so embarrassing…"

"Alright. Sorry. But I'll have to think of something equally insane. In turn, you don't hold me back from my nap when I want to have one, okay?"

For the rest of their walk back to their dorm rooms, Lune and Vanilla talked about helping out a certain, excitable redhead who seemed to enjoy scattering rose petals in her semblance's wake.

* * *

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, the first time Lune (and Vanilla) had their tutoring-slash-sparring session with Ruby that weekend had occurred without much fanfare. After introducing Vanilla to Ruby and letting the two get familiarized with each other, they'd all made use of the spacious clearing behind the Beryl household. And, before the three girls had set to work, a batch of "crappy cookies" had been promised by River Beryl as soon as they were done.

The cookies, after consumption, had been anything but.

The redhead really did have a lot more to learn. Ruby Rose had proved to move fast and even faster if she activated her semblance, but as the rabbit girl had found out after they had a sparring match with wooden swords (courtesy of Vert Beryl after witnessing his daughter, Vanilla—and occasionally, Yang—practicing in the past with tree branches), Ruby was prone to overextending, making the wrong steps or movements, or just not acting fast enough. The faunus wasn't sure if she managed to explain that all clearly because she didn't have the flair for teaching that Vanilla had, but she'd tried.

True, Ruby wasn't completely hopeless. She'd managed to land a few good hits on Lune, who'd already decided to take it easy and not let her faunus-enhanced reflexes take over. But the huge gap in skill level reared its ugly head when Vanilla's turn came to teach Ruby. Basically, that sparring match ended with the poor, younger girl gasping for breath and yielding with raised hands. Vanilla had apologized profusely afterward.

And on the next weekend, the quartet—because Yang had decided to join in—nothing much had happened either. The only highlight was the fact that Ruby was at least improving, even just by a bit.

"Hey, not bad," Lune had said after being struck at the waist. It had been mostly due to luck than pure skill, but Lune had noticed that Ruby was slowly realizing that she could take advantage of her blind spots. "Keep that up, and I'll have to fight smarter."

"She's all talk, Rubes." Yang had grinned at Lune when the faunus raised an eyebrow at her. "She'll just end up not doing anything 'cause it's not worth the effort."

The faunus had merely tossed her sword at the blonde, knowing that she'd catch it with ease—or knock it away. Which she had.

The weekend after that, though… that was when things had gotten a bit more interesting. Not in the "oh wow, so many things happened!" kind of way, as life in Patch was uneventful… for the most part… but rather, interesting in the way that it had been a day that Lune might be remembering for a good, long while. The fact that Vanilla being unavailable for that weekend due to her older sister wanting to spend some time with her might have had something to do with that, too.

In any case, only Lune and Ruby were there to spar with each other. As the two readied themselves and began swinging their practice weapons at each other, Lune idly thought that this whole scenario felt sort of strange because she'd never really spent some one-on-one time with Ruby. Yang was usually there with her younger sister as some sort of package deal. Not this time, apparently; the blonde had messaged Lune on her scroll that she'd come down with a nasty cold.

(She'd proceeded to wondered if it was Taiyang Xiao Long attending to his daughter's needs. Last time any of his daughters got sick and Lune came to visit, the treatment being given was… kind of eccentric, to say the least. Motivational posters, anyone?)

"So, uh, Lune?" Ruby asked after ducking from a blow that Lune delivered with her practice sword.

"Yeah? What's up?" Lune easily blocked Ruby's counterattack, seeing it coming a mile away. She felt her rabbit ears twitch slightly at the thudding sound the swords made. "Also, don't position your feet like that. Once I push you away, you're just going to fall on your butt."

"Right!" Ruby nodded, adjusting herself as Lune instructed. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask you something."

Lune nodded after seeing the shorter girl steel herself against what was to come and pushed as hard as she could. She watched with satisfaction as Ruby merely ended up stumbling backwards and regaining equilibrium instead of completely losing it. "Ask away."

"What made you want to become a Huntress?"

She couldn't answer at once; memories of Lune's conversation with a certain Qrow filled her head like a pitcher of water on a glass. She'd practically admitted to both him and herself what really kept her going, but considering who was standing before her… She thought she couldn't tell that same truth. Maybe to someone else. But not to Ruby. Or at least she'd _try_ toning it down for her sake. Honestly, she didn't really know what to say, anyway.

"You first." Lune's deflection was a weak one, but she thought it should work on the younger girl. "What made _you_ want to become a Huntress?"

Ruby fell for it. But she didn't answer right away, either, though for different reasons entirely.

Ruby traded blows with Lune before she did… or at least the redhead hoped to trade blows. Lune simply avoided the girl's sword strokes every time (even though she knew by now that parrying was something she should've done instead), and after letting the girl advance towards her, Lune met Ruby's sword with her own and maneuvered it in a way that ended up with the redhead's disarmament. Ruby gave the faunus an impressed grin and went to pick up her sword.

"That was so cool," Ruby said.

"Should've suspected something when my style's more of avoiding than direct confrontation, but you're learning," Lune replied. She gestured to the grass down below before sitting, then telling Ruby that they'll take five.

"Right, so uh, my answer to the question…" Ruby began after following suit. It just occurred to Lune that Ruby made for quite the pretty and innocent picture, sitting there with flowerbeds and trees consisting of what was behind her. "Do you remember those storybooks you'll read to me when you came to visit me and Yang?"

"Yeah. You liked them a lot, so I sacrificed nap time for Storytelling with Ruby," Lune said jokingly. Ruby snorted in reply, definitely amused. "But seriously, I didn't mind. It was pretty fun in its own way."

"It was! So then you remember how the story usually plays out, right?"

"The hero goes to a grand journey to slay the monster that threatens to destroy everything in its path, while helping all those he—or she—passes by." Lune remembered how utterly awed Ruby would be at the end before she dashed to find the next book she'd read to her. She thought they were all a cliched mess, but a happy Ruby was a happy Ruby.

Though of course, once Ruby had become good at reading, the faunus ended up watching her flip page after page with an excited look in her face instead. And Lune always did, right before she'd get smacked in the face by a pillow, courtesy of Yang.

"Yep." Ruby said, making Lune return her mind to the present. "And just like the heroes in the stories, I want to help people. I want to be that person who fights for what's right. Who fights for those who couldn't protect themselves! So when Yang decided to become a Huntress, I thought, hey, I should be one too!" The smile on her face grew wider. "And then there's Mom and Dad, too, who are, like, the _coolest people on Remnant_. Especially Mom. I don't really remember much about her anymore, but I know she's the best Huntress there is."

Ah, Summer Rose. Lune didn't really know much about the woman, either, even with Yang's stories about her. And honestly, she also wondered if the woman was _really_ dead. There was a grave, but it hadn't been clear about being any body there to bury with.

"…You miss her, don't you?"

"More than anyone in the world."

Lune decided to really look at Ruby then. There weren't any tears in her gray eyes, but there wasn't that thousand-watts smile on her face either. Just a simple fond, distant look in her eyes as she stared at the colorful flowers around her.

"Then… I bet she'll be glad to know that you're well on your way to becoming just like her," Lune said kindly. Ruby visibly brightened.

"Um, thanks. I really wish that didn't have to happen, but it can't be helped, you know? I just need to keep moving forward so wherever she is now, she's proud of me!"Lune ignored the lump that formed in her throat. The whole parental loss just somehow reminded her of her past life's parents. She'd moved on, mostly, but she still missed them so much. _No sense crying about what can't be fixed, remember_. "So you're really sure about this, aren't you? Even if not every person is a good person? Even if… if nobody's there to know that you've just saved their butts from the big, bad monster. And they never even bother finding out who you are, just taking things for granted."

The redhead determinedly met Lune's green eyes. "Even then."

She was struck speechless.

Despite it all, Ruby was still going to insist on becoming the hero in her own story. It was definitely something Lune would've had difficulty going with. But then, she and Ruby grew up under different circumstances. Ruby might have had a much better childhood, and Lune's definitely involved a lot of racism and bullying. With the thought of being constantly forced to think about how much of a scum some humans were, the faunus could never bring herself to even _want_ to defend those ungrateful asses.

Well, she might have been more willing to help people like them when she was younger, but things changed as she grew up. She still wanted to be a generally nice person, but... honestly, would that really help her in the long run or just be the reason for her downfall in whatever form that came?

 _Best not get philosophical right now, or something_ , Lune thought. As she held the younger girl's stare, she couldn't help but wish she was a lot more like her. Ruby… she really was the best kind of person humanity had to offer. It hadn't been so noticeable before, but it certainly was now.

"Then this means you're not going to give up anytime soon," the faunus finally said.

Ruby shook her head. "Nope. I know I'm not really all that good right now in Signal, but I _know_ I'll get better." Then she gave Lune a toothy grin. "Especially with people like you helping me out. I'll become awesome before I know it!"

Lune blinked a few times before shaking her head and standing up, wooden sword in hand. "Then come on. Break's over. Let's get back to it so you can prove to everyone that Ruby Rose will become the best Huntress there is."

"Amen to that, sister!" Ruby followed suit and grabbed the sword.

For the rest of that afternoon, the two girls proceeded to spar against each other and ultimately enjoying the whole session. While Lune felt like she'd dodged a bullet there with Ruby not pressing her for her answer to the earlier question, at the same time she'd felt guilty about not doing so. Then again, that might just be for the better.

She wouldn't deny, however, that there was a slowly growing thought that maybe, just maybe, she might just make it one of her top purposes to help Ruby Rose as much as she could. It would certainly be a less selfish reason to keep going forward than just looking to ensure her own survival in the many years to come.

Yes, she thought after her own practice sword was finally sent flying the same way Lune did Ruby's earlier. She wasn't sure how much help she'll be to Ruby, but she'll do whatever she could.

As the two girls later retired to the comfort of the Beryl household later on, it completely escaped Lune's notice that all this time, there was a crow perched on one of the trees nearby. She didn't realize it had been observing the two girls ever since it had started following Ruby, either. And she most definitely wouldn't have suspected anything if it even if things were otherwise.

And when Lune heard the rustling of leaves and the quick flapping of wings, all the faunus could see in the sky was a black bird flying to join a flock that had so conveniently been passing by.

* * *

 **A/N:** This is me hoping yet again that the length doesn't make things boring and makes it worth the nearly month-long wait. Boy howdy, do I look forward to the day I finally get out of college.

So, uh, yeah. I hope I managed to portray Ruby well enough. Honestly speaking, at first I had a hard time writing her. But then it was like, suddenly, things clicked and the words just came out without any further difficulty. There are probably a lot more I could've done to improve this chapter, but I tried my best. No regrets... until the next criticism comes anyway, haha. Also, I sneaked a little RWBY Chibi reference there. That had just been so amusing I had to put it in.

Anyway~! Enjoy, guys! Fingers crossed that the next chapters comes a lot more sooner. I did have the next few chapters plotted out. Not in detail, but planned enough that I want to know what happens next. I'll do some liberties as I write. See you all next chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

 _Atop a tower in a room full of shifting gears, two men converse. One man, bespectacled, sits behind a desk, posture straight and hands clasped together; the other stands in front with crossed arms and an air of nonchalance. It has been long since such a meeting has occurred. But whenever they do, it has always been a matter of import._

 _Although, there are usually more people involved._

 _"…I see, so that is her current condition," the seated man says as soon as his acquaintance completes his report. If one were to gaze at his face, they could almost see the gears shifting in his mind—very much like the way the real ones do at this moment, in fact. There has not been anything of note that has happened all this time. But, he knows that the longer that is the case, the more is at risk._

 _The other man nods. He lifts a hand and rubs his chin. "Obviously, most of what I've learned is word of mouth. But a quick checkup proved that seems to be the case."_

 _"Then, difficult as she had been acting, she's heeded my warning."_

 _He shrugs, as if the atmosphere isn't as serious as it currently is. He knows the gravity of the situation, but he maintains the facade anyway. "More or less. Hasn't been doing much about it, honestly."_

 _The bespectacled man closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I'm not very much surprised. But I have confidence that she will do what she must, in time." What she should have been doing a long time ago, he adds in his mind. "After all, it has been quite a while now since her… inactivity."_

 _"Oh, I'm pretty damn sure she acknowledges that particular fact. Grudgingly."_

 _A soft chuckle. "But of course. She's also smart to have chosen her current location, if all these years of, shall we say, peace and quiet is of any indication. Unfortunately, these kinds of things never last forever. Those who seek what she has will eventually get it. If she does not move away as they step closer, little by little, then—"_

 _"I know. No need to remind me," he interrupted with a raised hand. "She's not going to be the only person in danger anymore. And you gotta admit, we'd be shit at doing our jobs when that happens."_

 _"Indeed."_

 _"So what's our game plan, then? Keep convincing her before anything starts hitting the fan? Last I've checked, things these days haven't exactly been improving."_

 _It is true. Grimm sightings all over the four kingdoms had increased as of late. Disagreements are arising, power struggles are happening, and it's appearing that day, after day, Remnant is slowly spiraling downward. He knows that queen on the opposite side of the chessboard is the one responsible. He's trying his best to be one step ahead of her, but there is only so much he can do._

 _Still, he shakes his head at the suggestion. "The more you push, the more she resists. We'll do what we can to maintain what we have for now. Keep watch, report your observations, and if worse comes to worst, interfere." His lips curl into a wry smile. "My current status does not permit me to be as mobile as you, after all."_

 _"In other words, I go continue playing the role of an errand boy."_

 _"In a sense." And then, his cool and calm expression shifts into a grave one. "All we can do is hope she finally comes around. And when the time comes that she does, it will not be too late."_

* * *

At first all she felt was a nudge somewhere on her shoulder, making her strange dream about Ursai-riding zombies flicker like a television with a badly set up antenna. She sighed and moved slightly away from the invasive touch, and just like that she didn't bother acknowledging the disturbance any longer.

But then said nudge turned into a persistent one. She grunted. She definitely felt a faint pang of annoyance. Still, she didn't open her eyes and insisted on continuing her dream. Where were those zombies going…?

"Lune."

Now there were voices, too, and man, they were echoing really badly inside her head. It reminded her of people shouting at the mouth of a cave. She'd like to be the bear living inside said cave that would come out roaring to quiet down all those annoyances, but then she couldn't. She was a rabbit, not a bear.

"Um. Lune. S-seriously. Get up, please."

In the end, the person destroying her sleep won out. She was finally wrested away from her dreams. Lune let out a soft grunt and blinked her eyes open, straightening her back from the slouch she'd adopted as she fell asleep on her desk.

That is, her _classroom_ _'s_ desk.

She covered her mouth with a hand as she opened it to let out a yawn, and after lowering her arm onto her desk so it could join the other, she turned her head to her left and cast a questioning glance at Vanilla Blackthorn. The fourteen-year-old, in turn, had her brows knit together in worry as her violet eyes took in the sight of her faunus friend.

Yang probably would have loudly wondered what's up if the blonde wasn't stuck at the back of the class for arriving late and running out of available seats.

"What?" Lune asked with a hint of a slur.

A quick flicker of the eyes to the front of the classroom was all she got from Vanilla next.

Oh.

 _...Oh._

Well, then, time to face the music. After another yawn, Lune turned her head to regard a half-amused Professor Beryl. Today he had his red bandana on, this time his fox ears visible through the holes on the cloth; her dad was horribly inconsistent with his attire and tended to wear whatever he felt like wearing. She immediately detected the worry in his green eyes despite the small smile on his face and the crossed arms.

"Had a nice nap?" The fox faunus asked. Before Lune could open her mouth to give a quickly thought of answer, he added, "I know you have a tendency to sleep in class, but you never did it in mine. Or Qrow's, now that I think about it. Everything okay, kid?"

Then it all came back to her.

No. Actually, she hadn't. Not after last night's nightmare that had her scrambling for her battered notebook inside her backpack (mind games; suspicion never arose so long as she didn't treat anything any differently) and checking the "RWBY canon" timeline she'd sketched several years ago. Only after inspecting her calendar next that she confirmed—with relief—that she was at least five years away from certain doom. Not about to be shot to death by Cinder Fall's arrows, right after she killed Pyrrha Nikos with one.

Actually… that was a pretty stupid dream, wasn't it? That wasn't even any kind of scene she'd find herself in.

Still, she'd spent the rest of night sleepless and continually convincing herself that she wouldn't end up in such a predicament anyway. Because, really, there was no damn way she'd be in Cinder's radar. Lune was too inconsequential, too average, and had little to no major involvement in regards to what would have been the main storyline in another world.

And she'll try her best to keep it that way.

But her mom—no, best not think about that now. If she was really a Maiden like her references had described, then she would be fine. Nothing bad has happened for the past several years, so why would anything happen now? Or anytime soon, for that matter?

Lune still had five more years before everything was finally set in motion. Five more years of doing her level best to become the best fighter that she could ever be. _Just five more nerve-wracking years_. She wasn't entirely sure what else she should be preparing for when she had no intentions of meddling with anything that would just end up worse than better.

All she knew was this: she wanted to survive and live to see a day past Vale's equivalent of an apocalypse. Preferably with all her friends and family intact.

…You know what? It really sucked how she was having problems no twelve-year-old should be having. Why couldn't she just be like any other person and worry about homework or crushes or uniform wrinkles? She _really_ could do without a past life. What was she still doing here?

Lune glanced aside at Vanilla. She knew her friend still looked worried. Vanilla had been witness to how bad it had been when the faunus jolted up on her bed in cold sweat with a loud "No!" having escaped her lips. Her poor roomie had ended up wrested away from her own dreams. So now, Lune hoped she managed to portray 'I'm fine' just right with only her eyes to do the talking.

"Are you, really?" Vanilla asked softly, understanding Lune perfectly.

"I'm fine," Lune said, both to answer Vanilla and her dad. Believe it or not, she _was._ She was scared shitless last night, but she'd managed to recover now… Mostly. "Sorry about disrupting the class. There won't be an encore."

"I hope that it doesn't, because you're missing some of the really interesting stuff," Professor Beryl said with a smile and an easygoing tone. But Lune knew the worry never left him. He gestured with an arm as to what was written on the white board: gravity Dust and the neat things a person could do with it. His illustrations were actually pretty decent for a teacher.

Lune also noticed that there were some exercise questions written there in black marker and, after a quick sweep of her eyes around the classroom, she also realized that all her other classmates were all hunched down, scribbling their answers on their notebooks. There was one or two that were looking at her curiously, but a quick, dull-bordering-on-annoyed stare got them focusing on their papers once more.

No wonder why it was oddly quiet right now. No wonder why nobody decided to throw a ball of paper at her this time. She was usually a favorite target because she never fought back.

She returned her gaze to her teacher and bobbed her head up and down. She slouched back on her chair, flipping her notebook open with a right hand and grabbing her pen with her left. She could feel her dad's stare as she wrote down the questions on the board and proceeded to browse her textbook for an answer.

There was always something about parental intuition that made moms and dads seem like oracles. Even if the children never gave so much as a peep, the parent always managed to know what was up before they could even have a heart-to-heart with them. Such was the case right now. Lune's father knew that despite his daughter's nonchalance, she wasn't really somewhere high up in the emotional roller coaster ride.

"We'll talk after class," he added quietly. Lune nodded again without looking up.

Okay, then. A talk. The talk. It wasn't something she was looking forward to, but if it had to be done, then it had to be done. Nothing to worry about, and she and her dad never really got to talk much outside school. Busy, busy bees, the both of them. Her with Signal, him with teaching and his constant trips around the kingdom as a Huntsman. She'll deal with this, go on with her business, and pray to whatever god existed out there that she didn't have any RWBY-related dreams tonight. One or two were enough… God, was she internally rambling? Oh. Oh yes, she _was_ rambling.

Lune then made a face as she read the questions she'd written down, forcing herself to focus on that instead of anything else. Just how exactly was she going to answer a question revolving around physics that she couldn't apply Amelie's knowledge on? Last she'd checked, some aspects of it would make the likes of Newton roll in his grave.

"Just use your imagination," Vanilla stage-whispered from beside her. Apparently, she noticed Lune having trouble with question number one. "It's like you've said before: rule of cool."

"…Right."

 _Man,_ she idly thought. _If only imagination was all it takes to save a Huntsman Academy from a Grimm invasion and an innocent girl from a crazy bitch._

* * *

By the time that the electronic bells in the hallway finally sounded its catchy tune, Lune was more than relieved to see her awkward time in class come to an end. The students usually translated the music into "classes are over, suffer no longer" as they all packed up their stuff so after today, god, that had never sounded so apt. Ever.

Vanilla—and Yang—had gone off ahead knowing what was up after class. Thus, Lune took her time stuffing all her things back into her cluttered mess of a backpack. She normally preferred everything to have a semblance of organization, but knowing that clutter (the more paper, crumpled or otherwise, the better) was what made people so put off about rifling through someone's bag, the faunus thought she'd take advantage of that so she could hide her super secret notebook in plain sight. Nothing said "come find me!" more than an object hidden somewhere much more complicated. The trade-off was that people thought her to be so untidy. But in her opinion? It was so worth it. It also gave her an opportunity to call her "junk" as "systematized clutter."

A paper was suddenly plopped down on her desk. It effectively caught Lune's attention, making her freeze while her arm was midway inside her bag. She blinked at the paper, looked up, and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Thought you might be interested," said her faunus classmate, a dark-haired girl with a pair of what Lune thought were raccoon ears. She never really asked what kind they were because the person owning those appendages was in a completely different social circle than her.

Actually, that was pretty much why Lune was so surprised to be suddenly noticed like that. She'd interacted with her other faunus classmates from time to time, but the rabbit girl never really stuck around because she didn't feel like she fit in with their group. There was the occasional outing to Vale that she used to be invited to, but whenever she came she only did because she missed some aspects of city life. Some things that she missed from her old life. Not that twelve-year-olds had a lot of places to go to beyond malls, arcades, or fast food joints.

"Okay, then," Lune took hold of the paper, heard it crinkle upon her touch, and scanned the contents. There was a familiar-looking symbol at the top, a title in bold letters, and a body consisting of some kind of schedule and a description. Several seconds later, she found that she couldn't believe what she'd just read. She inclined her head up at her classmate. "Exactly why should I be aware about a White Fang rally?"

In this part of the timeline, Lune knew that White Fang was still a relatively peaceful organization. The worst some of its members did was boycott something, but nothing had ever reached the level of violence. They had a goal of attaining equality through peaceful means for a reason. Thus, rallies were the most often they did, never in one place and often from kingdom to kingdom. And apparently, the city of Vale was their chosen destination for this month's rally.

"Well, duh, you're a faunus," the raccon-eared girl said as if the answer was that obvious. Lune rummaged her mind for the girl's name. Peri. Perry… oh. Right. Periwinkle. Lune wasn't too ashamed to inwardly admit that she never really remembered not-so-important people by name but instead by appearance. "And you shouldn't miss an opportunity like this for the world."

"Because…?"

"Because it won't be a loooong time before they come back here—they're practically heroes to many faunus everywhere," her classmate said. Lune could practically see the stars shining in her eyes. Combined with the awed tone, her classmate definitely had a nasty case of hero worship.

Lune, on the other hand…

"Doing… what, collectively standing somewhere, blocking traffic—foot and vehicular—and shouting how our rights are being suppressed? While waving big signs at the same time?" Lune deadpanned as she pulled her arm out of her bag and zipped the thing shut. It was true, wasn't it?

Just like that, the stars in her classmate's eyes faded and now all she had was an incredulous stare at a particularly unconvinced rabbit girl. "Yes! You make it sound so ridiculous."

"Because it is." Lune didn't mince words.

"Hadn't _you_ been bullied during your childhood just because you were born different? Treated like you're lower than dirt? I'd want to tell the world that _I_ won't stand for any of that any longer. You should, too."

"I guess so. But on the other hand, joining the efforts of the White Fang isn't my way to go about it either." She shrugged. "Maybe they'd been making a difference. Maybe not. But either way I haven't really noticed any improvements thus far. Some people still treat us like crap, some people regard us with kindness." Before the now-annoying girl could say anything, she sighed, reopened her bag, and stuffed the flier inside her backpack. She then dragged her chair back with her legs and stood up, slipping an arm through her backpack's strap. "I'll go get permission from my parents first, alright? Just tell me what time we'll meet up. Obviously, the docks are the only viable place here."

The girl regarded Lune suspiciously for a moment, wondering if Lune was saying 'okay' when she actually meant 'no.' Lune thought the assumption stupid, but if it floated the girl's boat, then fine. Periwinkle finally confirmed Lune's genuineness with a nod. "I'll send you a message via scroll."

"Alright."

The girl flashed what seemed to be a triumphant smile, turned on her heel, and walked out of the classroom with her head held high. Lune shook her head and slipped her other arm through the backpack's other strap. Weird as that encounter was, she wasn't going to give the whole White Fang much mind until the day of the rally actually came. She kind of wondered if the Vale police knew about this and made the appropriate preparations for a bunch of faunus fighting for their rights, though.

Well, either way, rallies started and ended the same way: boringly. She'll just ride this out and go home for some much-needed sleep. Preferably nightmare-less ones.

Lune's thoughts were then interrupted as she felt a tap on her shoulder. Knowing who it was, she mentally braced herself and turned around to face her father. She gave him an empty smile. He gave her his customary head pat. And fortunately for Lune, no one else was there to see that.

"Dorm room?" Lune asked, knowing that this classroom was due for usage by the upperclassmen soon after her class ended. She could already hear the loud chatter of teenage students growing louder and louder from the outside.

"Dorm room." Her dad agreed.

* * *

Lune and Vanilla's dorm room had pretty much seen better years from the length of time the two girls had spent living there. While the room in general still looked homey and familiar and saw to yearly maintenances like all the other rooms, there was no denying that there was a certain worn feeling to it.

The curtains covering the large, glass windows directly to the north of the door had the color of pale green when it had used to look a shade darker two years ago. The red, oval carpet on the tan floor which separated Lune's bed from Vanilla's already had a few loose threads at the edges. And the beds? They were made, but hastily so with the uneven length of the bed cover on each side. There were also Vanilla's posters on her side of the room that looked faded on the brown wall, making the fictional characters in them look less than cheerful, and the glow-in-the-dark stickers in Lune's side were missing a few stars—though her crescent moon still remained intact. Finally, what was initially a clean and pristine room were cluttered with objects ranging from stacks of books to the occasional sock peeping out of a half-open drawer.

Hey, at least their room looked a lot better compared to those of the boys on the upper floor of the dorm building. If it weren't for Vanilla constantly getting Lune to clean up the room with her when it got untidy, much to Yang's amusement when she'd once walked in on them on their monthly cleaning, the room would have been the answer to the question, "What happens when a tornado hits a room?"

In the eyes of Vert Beryl, however, the room looked more messy than clean.

"If I said 'it's not what it looks like,' would you believe me?" Lune said as she caught the not-so-impressed look on her dad's face after he pushed the door open and saw… everything.

Before her momentarily stunned father could answer, Lune slipped past him and stepped towards her bed; she had the sudden urge to fluff the pillow and straighten its once slanted position. She did exactly that. Forget everything she'd said about her being generally organized. Apparently, some people didn't share the same definition of the adjective.

Vert Beryl finally recovered from his initial surprise—what had he been expecting?—and stepped further into the room, shutting the door behind him with a gentle push. Vanilla had made herself scarce the moment Lune told her that she was having a little talk with her dad somewhere they wouldn't be bothered. And when Yang got wind of that, she was all too happy to drag the shy girl with her to do a particularly fun activity with her and Ruby. Lune suspected video games. Fighting games. And Ruby or Yang winning the matches like the bosses they were.

The room, basically, was quiet as a mouse right now. Nobody would be bothering them in a long while.

Her dad ruffled Lune's hair in response. Lune silently mourned her further-ruined hair. "If we're talking about murder, you're on your own, kiddo. But since we're talking about the, uh, state of your room… yeaaaah, let's just go with, 'I'll believe you for the sake of believing you.'"

"Your faith in me has been noted," Lune said in a deadpanned tone. She plopped down on her bed, felt herself sink into the soft mattress, and forced all her thoughts away from some good ol' sleep as she patted to the space beside her invitingly. Mildly amused because he technically didn't need permission as an adult, her dad was all too willing to comply all the same and sat down beside his daughter.

Silence.

"So…" he began a beat later.

"So…?" Lune echoed.

Weird. She suddenly didn't know what to say. But then it hit her.

It was just then that she realized that she felt… awkward, with just her and her dad here, practically isolated from the rest of the world. She'd hardly given any one-on-one moments like this any second thought before, but now… god, had she really rarely, _personally_ interacted with her own father these days that the concept of just being together in one location felt so alien? How did this drifting apart came to be?

Okay, so she understood perfectly that she had her own responsibilities and he had his. Vert Beryl left often these days on Huntsman missions, and with his absence before the Grimm incident being the exception, he was usually back quickly enough not to make anyone think that he'd gone missing. Except that when he was around, he was more of a teacher than a parent. Weekends tended to come and go with him out and roaming the kingdom.

…Huh. Maybe that was why. He was just that distant these days. Too busy. And she… oh. Yeah. She was just as busy and as distant as he was. When one had the free time, the other was unavailable. The situation was oddly similar to those of parallel lines. But she certainly wished that wasn't the case; parallel lines went on infinitely without intersecting.

"So how are you really doing these days, Lune?" her dad asked. He gently nudged her with an elbow, his mischievous smile in place. "Any interested boys I should start thinking of chasing off?"

If her eyebrows have never risen so quickly before, they definitely did now. A look on incredulity settled on Lune's face as she whirled towards her dad.

"Dad. _Really_?" Lune asked. "They're hardly even on my radar. And I'm only twelve."

Not that being twelve stopped some preteen her age from crushing on someone. Nobody just caught her attention, that's all. Boys at this age were still… well, _boys_. Late maturity, and all that. Oh, god, what did that mean for her since she was technically older than them? Lune perished the thought immediately.

"Joking, joking. Nice to know, though. Means my little bunny gets to stay as one for a while longer," the other faunus said in a good-natured manner, patting Lune's shoulder. "Though, I really would want to know what's been going on lately. I know I haven't been there for you that often—especially after _that_ day."

No kidding. Lune's green eyes rolled down to settle on the sight of bite marks on her forearm, noting the scars that were there to stay and to remind her how some things have changed since then. She was reminded of all those nights when she replayed that attack over and over as a nightmare, gasping awake and clutching her heart like it was going to burst out of her chest and fly out of the window. She was usually alright by the time morning came, but wow, those dreams of her were, as some others would say, _hella_ annoying.

Was she looking forward to another tango with a Grimm? No, sir, she definitely was not. But she couldn't call herself an aspiring Huntress if she feared those assholes.

"I'm coping. Apparently, near-death scenarios make for pretty good motivators in regards to combat improvement," Lune said in a forced, casual tone. It was her best way of describing it all without making anyone want to have her pulled out of Signal to remain a civilian for good. "And I know you're busy for good reasons."

"…Good reasons. Yeah," her dad said with a somewhat shaky grin. There was something so off about that tone of voice that Lune was suddenly wondering if there was anything else other than the not-so-subtle secret her dad and mom were hiding. "Those Grimm aren't going to hunt themselves," he added lightly.

"Yup. Though if that's the case, Remnant wouldn't have any need for Huntsmen," Lune said. She decided to ignore whatever suspicion she had. She had enough as it is. "But seriously, Dad. I mean it. It's okay if you're not there as often as you used to be. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Being caught sleeping earlier says otherwise, kid. I'd understand if you were up late finalizing your weapon design for your other class, but your friend Vanilla told me that wasn't the case." His expression shifted into that of concern. "You know you can come to me when you're in trouble, right?"

Lune stared up at her father. The words that had formed in her mouth had shriveled up and died.

On second thought, maybe that was the problem with her, too. Growing up with her past life's mindset meant having less dependency on her parents than any normal child would have. Having less dependency on them meant less opportunities for bonding sessions that would have kept their relationship pretty darn closer than it presently was. And _that_ in turn meant that Lune didn't have that strong a relationship with her parents. Just strong enough that nothing was glaringly wrong.

Everyone in the family got along well, at least. But family interaction had definitely lessened over the past couple of years. Each person was absorbed in their own problems and businesses.

Maybe… maybe it was time to change that before it was too late. Right?

The rabbit faunus finally smiled a warm one and nodded. "I know, dad."

He smiled brightly at her.

At that moment, she also almost, _almost_ decided on telling him the actual truth of her identity. But as she was about to open her mouth to speak, a sudden pang of fear for the unknown had her backtracking from the idea.

What if that confession alienated her dad from her? What if this changed everything from this day forward? She liked to hope for the best since her parents had always been nice and loving to her since day one, but… gah. Could she risk it? Make a gamble and watch where the cards fall? Even Vanilla had far more courage than she did.

…No. She definitely wasn't ready for that. Her parents had enough problems as it was with secrets and who knows what else. Maybe after those were out of the way? Definitely.

So instead, Lune settled with acknowledging another matter she had. Something that she tended to put aside for the sake of more important things. She lowered her head, suddenly interested in the black, knee-high socks she'd worn with her light-colored uniform. She swung her legs back and forth, still short enough that her feet didn't meet the floor. "So, anyway, does it get better? Killing Grimm? Since you're a Huntsman and all, you'd definitely know best."

"You want a sugar-coated answer or the actual one?"

"Dad, I'm training to become a professional in the art of cutting up big, bad monsters into ribbons," Lune answered. "I'm pretty sure I can handle the truth."

"Okay, then…" the older faunus considered his answer, then he shook his head ruefully. "No. It's always going to be a challenge. In my time out in the field, I don't think I've even seen every specie of Grimm there is. I don't know how they all attack, how strong they are, or whether I'm going to get my ass kicked if I decide to engage something. Unfortunately for me, I'm not really as clever as my animal half." His smile was a humorless one. "Oh, don't get me wrong, the Huntsman academy I finished at had made sure I learned everything I possibly can about all kinds of Grimm. But you'll find that theory is very, very different from the real thing."

"Like how it's different to learn about ice skating from a book and learning how to _really_ slide across all that ice without falling down." Lune certainly wasn't going to forget her first time skating around a frozen lake. It helped her balance better at the cost of bruised hands.

"Yup. There's also too many factors to consider once you're out hunting Grimm for real. Your life will always be on the line. You're lucky—and I'm relieved beyond words—that you got out of a Beowolf attack alive two years ago, but that won't be the last time you'll have such a situation."

Lune sighed and her shoulders drooped. "Figures." And really, what had she been expecting? Even the best fighters would die the moment they made a mistake. The stakes were high, and one false move… you're dead.

"Maybe I should've gone for a better answer. I'm not looking to discourage you from all this," her dad then said as he caught the look on her face. "In fact, if I did just that you wouldn't look so… grim."

It was a bad attempt at lightening the mood, but it worked. Somewhat.

"Dad, you're being no better than Yang in the punning department." Lune pointed out.

Her father responded to that with a one-armed hug, pulling the girl close to him. Lune could feel his warmth from the close proximity between them. "Nah, I'm quite certain Taiyang's kid outpuns everyone. Seriously, though, I _will_ help you out when you're in trouble."

"Oh yeah?" Lune slowly asked.

"Yeah."

"Because…" She hesitated. Her father nodded at her encouragingly. She could feel a lump form on her throat as, without eye contact, she admitted, "because, okay, you got me. I'm… I'm having trouble getting over that Grimm attack."

He squeezed her comfortingly. "It's okay, kid. You're here alive, and you'll be able to get even with them eventually. For the meantime, I'm here. And the next time something keeps you up at night, you give me a call, alright? We'll talk, I'll act stupid until you feel better, and when it ends you'll have a dopey look on your face and you'll fall asleep in a heartbeat." He grinned. "Or you can just go sleep while I talk. I know I did the same to your mother when we were younger—she told me my voice makes her sleepy."

That warm, fuzzy feeling of reassurance was something Lune didn't expect to affect her so much. It was nice. So very nice to be reminded that, even if she was far away from everything she used to know, she wasn't alone. Never alone.

She almost wanted to cry. In fact, she could feel her eyes start to feel hot with the onset of tears. She knew that wouldn't do, so she fought them back, hard, and went with leaning into her father's embrace instead.

"Thanks, dad."

"No problem. We Beryls stick together, you hear?"

She swore she could add something along the lines of 'until the end of time' or something equally cheesy for that one. Lune grinned up at him with shining eyes. "Loud and clear, sir."

Vert Beryl grinned back. The two stayed that way until suddenly she remembered another thing she'd meant to ask her dad. Since, well, he was already here and all.

"Oh, yeah, dad?"

"Hm?"

"You don't mind if I go with some classmates of mine to Vale, do you? They wanted to go see that White Fang rally and asked me to come with."

"So long as you promise to be extra careful," her father warned her. "The White Fang never really does anything worse than your occasional boycott and their constant public protests, but you can never be too sure. I really don't mind you going—might as well do it for educational purposes, yeah?" Then, he smiled that mischievous smile of his. That usually meant something Lune wasn't going to like too much. "In exchange, I want you to focus entirely on your concept weapon when you come back. I've been talking with your teacher; you've been making the least progress."

Fair enough. Plus side: she'd recently gone past tearing her hair off thinking of a weapon and towards wondering what she could do with her base design. She just needed to sketch it, present it to her teacher, and move on from there. Lune made a face at all that future work but nodded all the same. "Fine, that's a fair trade. Tell Mom for me?"

"Sure. And to seal the deal, we shake on it."

"Pfft, sure."

They did exactly that.

For the first time in a long while, Lune had slept surprisingly well that night.

* * *

Late afternoon, around four pm on a Saturday. If Lune had the information correct, then she would be right on time as she stepped towards a group of twelve-going-thirteen-year-old faunus in her hoodie-shorts-boots ensemble.

She could hear the sounds of waves crashing against the shore the closer she got. And when she was finally close enough to be noticed, a glance past the group showed a simple, but sleek brown building with a pier stretching towards a large, white boat peacefully swaying on the water.

It was made apparent, however, that Lune's presence hasn't exactly been entirely expected. Or appreciated.

" _She_ _'s_ the one we're waiting for?" asked a particularly incredulous faunus as he glanced Lune's way. He was another classmate of hers, a guy with a head of messy black hair, equally dark eyes, and a wolf's tail. He and the rest of the group were in casual wear, as well.

"Thanks for spoiling my grand entrance. I really appreciate it," Lune said, unaffected by his tone of voice. She merely stuffed her hands into her gray hoodie's pockets. "Too late to do anything about that though. I'm here to stay."

"She doesn't run with our group, but she's still a faunus like us," the raccoon-eared faunus added, stepping forward and staring down the wolf faunus. She struck Lune as the kind of person with a certain sureness in her movements. And confidence; she had that in spades. She was kind of snobby, though. "Not like we're going to force her to stick with us when we get there anyway. I just thought of inviting her with us so she doesn't end up ignorant like some of our other classmates."

 _Wow. Okay_. Lune rolled her eyes but said nothing to counter that. Not worth it. "Right, sure. Let's go with that."

"Ugh, whatever," the wolf faunus said grudgingly. He clearly didn't like her, so what's his beef? Lune immediately got her answer as he then said, "But if she doesn't realize that she should really stand up for herself instead of acting all wimpy like she normally does in Signal, then she's not coming with the next time something like this happens."

So. That's why.

He didn't like how she just let every insult slide. That she acted like it was okay for some humans to constantly belittle her for being a faunus. Lune didn't really know what to make of that. Because, well, he _was_ half-right and she just thought that fighting back wasn't worth the hassle. She just shot the guy an unamused stare before turning back to the group's obvious leader.

"I'm fairly certain that won't happen," The girl said confidently. She then proceeded to ask if everyone was accounted for. Nobody said anything about anyone missing. Thus concluding that no one was about to be left behind, the raccoon-eared girl took the lead and headed towards the ticket booth.

Fifteen minutes later, the group of faunus were aboard the small ship, watching the island of Patch grow steadily smaller while the large buildings consisting of one portion of the city of Vale grew larger. Lune ignored the left-out feeling she'd felt all the while as her fellow faunus chatted with each other without acknowledging Lune too much.

Eventually, they reached Vale's docks. The group disembarked, and the sight of several brick structures greeted them, all placed in a row across narrow roads. They surrounded the area and towered over all those who walked around them.

As she stared at all the houses, Lune vaguely recalled an architectural style called Victorian that they were reminiscent of. They all looked appealing to the eye and it just... fit. She also wondered if the interior smelled like fish if the windows were left open for long. The buildings were located by the docks, after all.

"We've got half an hour before the rally starts in the commercial district," Periwinkle informed them all. "Which means thirty minutes of doing whatever we want before we go to the meeting place in front of the mall at the commercial district. It's the largest building in that area, not that far from here; you can't miss it." She smiled proudly at the information she had on her. "With that out of the way, time for some sightseeing!"

Her classmates started heading towards a certain direction that, after an inspection the directional sign nearby, told Lune that they were heading deeper into the commercial district. They probably wouldn't be able to cover half the entire area. Maybe even one-third of it. As her father had told her sometime in the past, even if this area was smaller in comparison to the industrial district, agricultural district, or the residential district on the southern half of the city, the commercial district was large enough that going from one end of the area to the other would take _hours_ , give or take.

Vale was just that large of a city. Heck, if all the other districts were to be combined, Lune wasn't above assuming that the city was practically as large as a small Earth country. Maybe Egypt?

And because a large city meant lots of twists and turns and unfamiliar areas, Lune wasn't about to get left behind from the group. She'd been to Vale with her parents before, sure, but that didn't mean she'd made an effort memorizing each and every part of the city they'd walked through. So before the group of faunus were completely out of sight, Lune turned on her heel, and—

"That's just great," she muttered.

Never mind. They were gone. Lune kicked herself for not paying close attention, but all the same she started walking in the same direction the others had taken. Might as well do her own sightseeing-slash-finding her way around without anyone accompanying her. This wouldn't be the first time, if past lives were going to be accounted for. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and began the long, scenic walk towards the meeting place.

* * *

She had to admit, now that she could observe the city of Vale without being distracted by a companion or family member, she'd found Vale to be quite the busy city. Nothing compared to the business of a regular day in New York City if memory served her well, but somewhere kind of close. There were plenty of people walking on the very sidewalk she was stepping on, but not plenty enough that she could weave through the particularly slow-moving ones in front of her.

It was during the time when Lune walked past a slow man too focused on his scroll that she accidentally bumped into someone. Actually, no. It was more like someone accidentally bumped into her because _they_ suddenly stopped right in front of her instead of going with the flow.

As it turned out, combat experience served a person well even outside of a fight. Instead of Lune bouncing back and falling embarrassingly down on her butt, dirtying her clothes in the process, she managed to make several quick steps backward with her arms slightly spread to further improve her equilibrium. She regained her balance soon after and, as the offender whirled to face her, she prepared an apology because she knew this was somehow going to become her fault.

Of course she knew how the game was played. She's been playing that game all her life.

"Watch it," the person she bumped into warned. He—she? _They_ , for now—was near unidentifiable with their sweater's hood covering their head, the sunglasses their eyes, and their body figure that looked neither feminine nor masculine. They gestured to the scroll in their hand. "I was having an important call there, kid."

The voice sounded masculine, but not low enough that it could sound remotely feminine, too.

"Should've done it somewhere that doesn't have people in them. Less risk of this happening," Lune couldn't help but say. "I already know how this is going to go, so okay, I'm sorry. I'll be careful next time."

She didn't know if she was being glared at or not. But that was a really long stare there.

"Don't do it again."

The person then nodded at her before turning away and resuming their walking. Lune decided to count to ten before she started moving on lest she bumped into them again. But as she started walking, making sure she was several persons behind the jerk, she couldn't help but overhear the apparent scroll conversation. Ladies and gents, faunus hearing.

It was rude to eavesdrop, of course. But it wasn't her fault when she could naturally hear better than humans. Currently the voice sounded like it was being heard from directly beside her.

"…As I was saying, there aren't a lot of people who fit the description. Even if the one the boss lady gave me was a vague one."

There was a pause, indicating a response from the other line.

"I'll keep searching before I move on, okay? I hear there's an island near here, too. I'll check that out."

Another pause.

"Yes, yes, I'm careful. I've cleaned after the messes I've made—it's nothing eye-catching now. They've been dealt with. And yes, damn it, I know that our 'missing friend' is a flighty thing. Just let me do my work here, alright?"

The call then ended with a swipe on the scroll's electronic screen.

Lune couldn't help but feel intrigued; the conversation just reeked of something really... bizarre. And dark. It was making her think of all sorts of things.

But then she reminded herself not to jump to conclusions. Doing so was where massive misunderstandings began. That was where regrets started piling up so high it would take forever to be rid of them. And more importantly, it was no business of hers. She should abandon that thought and focus on the now.

Lune continued her search for that stupid rendezvous point.

* * *

As it turned out, that long scenic walk ended up being more of the rabbit wondering which of these tall buildings here was the largest one. Because there were a lot of them, never skyscraper-high but mansion-tall, it was hard to tell which was _the_ mall the rendezvous was supposed to happen. Vale wasn't going to be worried about a shortage of stores anytime in the near future, that's for sure.

After her fifth wrong building, Lune decided to take five so she could rest her feet at one of the benches nearby. She chose one that wasn't littered with leaves from the trees nearby, and she practically melted into her seat as her feet instantly felt relief at the lessened pressure. And then she slumped back into the backrest with her arms draped over them.

"World," she told the air, eyes skyward. "All I wanted is for things to go my way for once. Just once, dammit. Get off my back."

"Lost?"

"You think? Wait. No, no exactly. It's just that I realized a lot of buildings looked alike and I can't find this particular one _she_ _'s_ talking about. I don't have enough time to do a clean sweep and you're not helping at all—" She paused. That voice was definitely not her imagination nor her mental self. Slowly, she pushed herself away from the backrest and straightened her back. She turned her head from side to side and her eyes rested on the only person standing nearby. Then… she lifted a hand and waved lamely. "Yo."

"Hi," she responded, amused.

Lune slapped her forehead before lowering her hand. "Okay… this is awkward. Before you say anything else, yes, I know. I'm stupid. I totally thought you were just a voice in my head."

The black-haired girl, seemingly similar to Lune's age, gave a small smile at that. Lune's first immediate thought of her was that she was cute, a preteen with equally black cat ears and a pair of slanted, yellow eyes. And those eyes, they caught Lune's attention the most. It was the only thing of color on her when her attire—consisting of a scarf, a sleeveless shirt, pants, and shoes—revolved around the colors black and gray. In fact, those round orbs also looked so feline it reminded her of a certain… person…

"You look like you've seen a ghost," the girl, _Blake Belladonna_ , pointed out.

"Eh?" Lune realized that she might as well had, though technically Blake was never a ghost. She laughed off her surprise at the sheer coincidence of it all. She hoped she managed to mask her disbelief just fine because—gosh, how could she forget? "Whoops. Sorry. I swear, you just reminded me of someone I knew. Funny how that happens a lot."

"You must really know a lot of people, then," she said in a flat tone.

"Just a select few who are really, really memorable," Lune said, shrugging. _Yeah, and I'm laying it a bit thick there._ "So anyway… enough about me. What about you? You don't look like you're from around here, but you definitely don't look miserable like me."

"I had time to get familiar with the place," Blake returned easily. She gestured to the road ahead with a slight movement of her head. "I was going to rejoin the group I'm with when I found you."

"Let me guess… White Fang?" Lune said, pushing herself off the bench and standing up. She patted the back of her clothes in case they had dirt on them.

Blake didn't seem too alarmed at the fact that Lune 'guessed' right at the get-go; that is to say, she wasn't at all. Then Lune remembered why.

The White Fang still meant something good to Blake. Because the organization still wasn't criminal in any way, she didn't regret being where she was right now, fighting for the equal treatment of her fellow faunus everywhere. Not wondering if she was doing the right thing while stealing cargoes full of Dust.

And, maybe she was jumping ahead there, but Lune thought Blake had no reasons to be suspicious of her. The cat faunus was more likely to think that Lune was just as sympathetic as she was to the White Fang's cause. It would be a thousand levels of bizarre if Lune wasn't.

Yeah… except that in reality, she never really knew where to place herself in this particular spectrum. Being a human before and a faunus now made for some pretty complicated self-orientation.

"You guessed right," Blake confirmed. "You know about the rally, then?"

"As a matter of fact, that's exactly where I'm going to," Lune said. "I'm Lune. You don't mind if I tag along, do you? I'm pretty sure by the time I find my way around this city, the rally's over."

"It _is_ a large city," Blake said, nodding. She didn't seem too bothered by Lune's presence. She simply glanced aside at the rabbit faunus after she turned and started walking forward. "…And I'm Blake. Come on."

And that was how Blake Belladonna ended up with a rabbit faunus in tow. As the two girls navigated around Vale's commercial district, Lune found Blake to be just as reserved and mellow as her older counterpart. The dark-haired girl was a quiet one, comfortable with the silence and simply taking in the sight of all the surrounding buildings towering above the two of them. It helped that the weather was decent and shed everything in a vivid light, and with the afternoon sun steadily sinking over the horizon, the temperature had settled into somewhere between warm and cold. The current atmosphere was juuuust right.

"I guess you don't really stay in towns or cities much, do you?" Lune inquired a moment later, bending her upper body slightly forward so she could peer at Blake beside her. She had her hands clasped behind her back as she kept pace.

"We're constantly on the move," Blake answered. "We can't stay in one place for too long, so most of the time we spend our days outside the kingdoms."

Lune spotted a couple of children playing tag and running her and Blake's way. She quickly stepped aside to give way. She had a smile on her face as they ran past her, laughing and without a care in the world. Deep inside, she wished she had a childhood like that. "That sounds like a pretty dangerous way of living."

"It is," Blake said. She didn't sound offended at all. "But we survive all the same. You'll die if you don't learn how to."

"That's one lesson I definitely learned the hard way," Lune said sheepishly, rubbing her scars hidden by her sleeves. "So you're... okay with that, not knowing whether each day might be your last?"

"Nobody knows when they're going to die," Blake replied, looking aside at Lune. "And I think it's worth all the risk if we, the White Fang, achieved what we've set out to do." She shrugged. "And it's not like I can go suddenly start living in one of the kingdoms, if that ever crossed my mind. There's probably a lot of bureaucracy involved... and a lot of questions."

"Right. So, back to the White Fang... peace and equality for all, right?" Lune said.

"Yes. That's what I hope to accomplish with them someday," Blake said. She was smiling at the thought of such a wonderful kind of future. "Every faunus deserves to be treated no differently than the humans. In fact, there shouldn't be any hate or cruelty in the first place."

"Amen to that. I got bullied enough because of my ears back when I was younger." It was sad how something that started so nobly grew into something disastrous. She had that thought in mind when her next question came out without much thought: "But are you guys coming anywhere close to that goal?"

Blake didn't have an immediate answer for that one. Whatever light she had in her eyes dimmed.

In retrospect, maybe Lune shouldn't have gone straight to those kind of questions. It was probably too personal because the White Fang was practically the only family Blake knew, and right now she and the cat faunus were nothing more than strangers with a common destination. Though, obviously, with a common race.

She had to remind herself that Blake was her own person with her own boundaries, no longer just a fictional character. Just like all the other people she'd met before. Even if she was correct in assuming that the black-haired girl was starting to have her doubts about her being a White Fang member, Lune didn't necessarily have to poke at things like that.

And for that, she was sorry she went with a question that may or may not be an armor-piercing one.

"…We're getting close. The event should be starting soon."

Lune wasn't surprised to have that as an answer.

The rest of the walk became awkward after that. Blake had reverted to her distant self, and Lune gave up on her attempts at chatting the girl up.

Eventually, the duo finally reached the rendezvous point, a large, empty lot in front of a particularly large mall built of glass and steel. Lune might just be all too happy to be rid of the not very awesome atmosphere between her and Blake. The cat faunus was content to just leave her there with an "It was nice meeting you, Lune" near the group of people, and with one casual wave Lune was content to just stay there at a safe distance, right across the two-way street.

As she sat herself on the steps of a staircase beside the nearby apartment, she could spot her group of classmates from her vantage point. Once this was over, she'll just tail them home.

Lune had never seen so many faunus together in one place. Some had horns instead of animal ears; some had tails, and even sharp canines. Strangely enough, she hadn't spotted anyone remotely reptilian. All the same they were all collectively standing there, waiting for their leader to kick-start this demonstration. Some were already eagerly waving their signs around. And the noise… yes, it was definitely noisy. So many were talking at once that Lune could feel a headache coming if she tried focusing on hearing even one conversation.

So before that happened, the rabbit faunus found another thing to set her sights on. She noticed some fellow bystanders warily eyeing the crowd, all human and obviously regretting being there. She saw some people hurry past that part of the area after they realized what they'd nearly walked into. And some… let's just say she didn't like the look on their faces.

She felt something solid press on her skin as she slouched lower, arms folded over bent knees. She nearly forgot she had her leather flask strapped there on her waist, hidden underneath her hoodie and filled with water she could drink. Or, even better, use her semblance with. Vanilla had gifted the thing to her after one too many incidences of Lune realizing she had no water source to enhance her combat prowess with.

It probably wasn't going to see any use now, but at least she had something to distract herself with.

But before she could pull out the flask and pop open the cap, the crowd across the street silenced. Someone stepped away from the group, stood at the center, and in a loud, booming voice, began a passionate speech about the latest issue that had reached the White Fang's ears: another establishment that refused entry, and service, to all the faunus residing in the area. Lune left the flask alone.

So that was why the demonstration was happening here. The large mall they stood before had started growing a reputation of being horribly racist against the faunus. There had been growing incidents of violent treatment against the faunus who were not aware that their kind was banned from the premises. Instead of being politely escorted out of the building, they were dragged out and thrown down the stairs. The victims couldn't file charges out of fear. And worse, there had also been rumors about them forcing some faunus to work for them without any pay. They've all thus turned to the White Fang to be their voice.

As she listened to the protests, Lune couldn't help but bring back up a strange thought she'd been having earlier.

Where should she stand here? Who she should support? Physically, she was a faunus in every single way. Mentally… which was she, really? She had Amelie's—a human—thoughts, memories, and experiences. She had human parents and human friends. But now she had her current life and every single thing that package provided her. And even if her fellow humans looked down on her like she was filth, she'd always viewed them not as someone superior, but her equal. But jerks. Definitely jerks.

She usually dismissed them as bullies because she knew there was always someone who knew better. She never gave her race much thought beyond the usual, 'Hey, someday I'll become a Huntress, and you'll be thankful this faunus saved your sorry asses.' Race never mattered to her, period. People just continually shoved her being a faunus down her throat.

But when it came down to it… which side was she on?

Lune blinked and pinched her arm reproachfully.

Wait. What was she thinking? There shouldn't be any sides at all in the first place!

She shook her head at herself, surprised that she made a problem out of something silly. The most important thing was that she was who she was. She was a person like anyone else, and maybe if every single person on this planet stopped seeing the whole thing as _us and them_ , then maybe they can all get started on treating each other equally. Whatever else Lune thought on this topic, change was definitely not going to happen overnight.

Anyway. She should just focus on the rally and watch it come and go.

That was exactly what she did… until confusion suddenly slapped her in the face because a new group had started approaching the White Fang members and supporters. What was happening? Lune found herself staring intently at the rally across the street.

At first there only seemed to be a heated conversation happening between them. Clenched fists, frowns, glares, eyebrows slanted down. The group that had approached were full of humans. Against Team Faunus, maybe? But then after someone finally lost his temper and started pulling at the hair, animal ears, or horns of the nearest person, that was when things started to go very, very wrong.

Lune shot up from her seat. The White Fang disliked violence, but that didn't mean they wouldn't go up in arms as self-defense. She thought the conflict would be diffused by the leader, but after he was shoved away... there was no longer any chance of that.

Her heart started speeding up as the violence occurring before her started spreading to the entire group. Fists started flying. Weapons—oh god—were drawn. And the Vale police patrolling nearby found themselves too few in numbers to reestablish order. She was certain that they were calling for reinforcements. They already had their scrolls out as some attempted to return the peace.

Her classmates were also caught in the crossfire. She could see them kicking and punching anyone who tried hitting them. Some managed to slip away, but some were still stuck trying to defend themselves.

Should she help? Should she… should she just run? Some others had already fled for safety; she noticed a black blur speed past one human who thought he could jump her. All he'd struck was an afterimage, the real person far behind by the time he realized he was fooled by an illusion. The ones that stayed were doing so just so the others could do the same thing Blake did: run before they were engaged.

(An image flashed in her mind: of a person going over the railings, falling, falling, falling to her death.)

Lune gritted her teeth. She was just one person. What could she do? She couldn't stop this storm. She wasn't strong enough. And she was definitely not going to delude herself into thinking that all it took to stop this pointless violence was to shout at them, make them see sense, and have them realizing that they were all idiots for doing… _this_. She was more likely to die than live.

So Lune descended the steps, silently apologizing to her classmates about being a coward, and turned to flee the scene before anyone noticed her.

Except she _was_ noticed. She merely ended up bouncing back from someone who stepped in her way. It was a man; he would have appeared nondescript if not for the sneer in his face.

"If you stay out of my way, I'll give you all my candies," Lune said as she pulled herself up from the ground, masking her fear with a facade of nonchalance. It took everything she had not to make her voice tremble as she said, "In fact, let's forget we saw each other. Save us both an ass-kicking session, yeah?"

She instead found herself grabbed by the shoulder and effortlessly lifted up to his eye level. Stars flashed on her vision when she was slammed against the wall. Hard. She couldn't stop the surprised squeak of pain that escaped her lips.

"How about no, girlie? From the looks of it, you're with _them_ ," the man said in a low voice. Lune's nose twitched at his nasty-smelling breath. "You White Fang types should have just stayed out of the damned city. And as you can see, we're trying to change what we have now."

 _You know what? Forget being scared. I_ _'m a Huntress-in-training, dammit_. _Punishing assholes for being assholes isn't a part of the job description, but I'm sure whatever god out there is willing to forgive me.  
_

"I see." Lune said softly. She brought her green eyes up to meet his. "Don't worry, I didn't take any offense. So if that's the case…"

She mentally braced herself and threw her head forward with as much force as she could muster. She hit him square in the forehead, catching him in enough surprise that he immediately let go. It wasn't the strongest headbutt she'd ever made because she couldn't gather momentum, but it was enough. She managed to land on her feet, moving to kick the asshole in his manhood to incapacitate him further, but he recovered fast enough to grab her foot. He held firmly as she tried tugging her leg back. He smirked as she glared.

"Yeah, nuh-uh," Lune muttered.

Plus side, he was being smug about his victory. As she was ever the opportunist, Lune quickly pulled up her hoodie, pulled out the cap from her leather flask, and with a wave of her hand splashed water in his face. Forget about modesty; survival before everything. And when he let go once more, Lune forgot about overextending and ran like hell.

* * *

"Are you _kidding_ me?"

She later met a dead end, a brick wall standing imposingly before her. It was tall enough that she couldn't jump across it—and even then, she didn't have any gravity Dust to help her with. _And on the one thing my most recent lesson could have helped me with. My good luck continues_.

She _could_ run up the wall. All that needed was a strong set of legs to keep her momentum going. And while it was previously impossible on Earth, it should no doubt be possible on Remnant. This world practically operated on the concept of rule of cool. She'd _seen_ her friend go invisible, for god's sake. She should be able to do it. She was definitely going to do it.

Lune took several steps back. She estimated her distance. Yes, this was far enough. After a deep breath and a roll of her shoulders, she started breaking into a run—

She was knocked into the ground instead.

Combat senses kicking in, she flipped herself over. And then she groaned inwardly. _Him again._ He had just committed the major offense of ruining her clothes. The _asshole_.

"You're really starting to become a bother here. I hope you know that," Lune said with an unamused glare. She lifted her legs up, swung them backward as hard as she could, and performed a reverse roll. This maneuver was always disorienting because she wasn't doing it forward, but at this moment in time she was used to the sensation enough that she managed to only sway slightly as her feet found the ground again. She stood up and settled into a fighting stance. "Fine, a dance number it is."

But then she didn't have to fight at all. Because just as the guy was about to charge at her like a bull, a look of surprise flashed across his face before he crumpled down. Lune blinked at his fallen form. She relaxed her stance and stared at her savior.

"...Dad?"

Vert Beryl, in all his Huntsman glory, stood behind the jerk with a wide, boyish grin in his face. One of his chakrams was in his hand. It did not take a math genius to answer this equation.

"You're a fast runner, but not the best navigator," her dad said. "Good thing I was around. Come on. Now that I've caught up with you, let's get out of here. Don't worry about him. One of the police is already heading this way."

Suddenly feeling dizzy with relief, Lune gave a tired smile and stepped forward to walk with him. "Gladly."

* * *

 _"…In other news, a White Fang protest has taken violent turn after an anti-faunus group disrupted the event. While the conflict has eventually been handled after the interference of the Vale Police Department as well as the Huntsmen within the area, several casualties has also been discovered in the aftermath. The police are currently investigating the matter."_

 _"Hold that thought. I've just received an update, Lisa. It appears that the leader of the White Fang has stepped down from his position. The specific details are unknown, but faunus everywhere are claiming that as of today, there has been a change of leadership. We have yet to identify whom his replacement might be. But rest assured, citizens of Vale, we will update you all accordingly once more information comes in."_

 _"Aptly put, Cyril. This has been the Vale News Network, signing off—"_

Lune switched off the television and rubbed her temple, knowing that she was definitely going to have a headache today.

A full week had passed since that day, and man, she did not want to repeat that week, ever.

(She should have stayed and helped.)

She never really knew Periwinkle and that friend of hers, but she certainly wasn't hoping they'd end up kicking the bucket with those other White Fang members and those other humans. Spending her days in Signal had thus become a very glum affair that by Thursday she'd started spending her nights in the Beryl household and enduring the long walks home—this time with her father accompanying her.

(No. Really. Maybe if she'd at least helped them get out alive, then this would never have happened. Her life was important and her past death screwed her up badly, but her safety shouldn't come at the cost of others. Even if she knew them as much as she would know a stranger.)

 _Shut up, brain. Not helping_ , she thought. Nobody from the rest of her faunus classmates blamed her. She just did what was best for her at the moment. So did they, considering they survived. Fine, she did feel bad because she could have _tried_ to do something instead of letting things slide, as per usual...

She shook her head. She should stop beating herself up over that. It's been a week already, and it was pointless to keep thinking about _that_. Learning what happened to them due to what she didn't do gut-punched her, but what else could she do? They were gone. Two unknowns, and here she was letting them affect her that much? No, that wouldn't do. Survivor's guilt can go tango right out of the room.

She'll work this through, little by little. She could promise herself that, at least.

(Cowardcowardcoward _SHUT UP.)_

At the end, the mind won over her heart. It was just pointless to keep wondering about what-ifs. Just like anything she'd encountered before, she'll get through this. She needed to focus on her Signal lessons so she could complete them. She needed to get her life back on track. Remind herself that if Death ever started knocking on her door, she'll open it and say, "Not today." And then she'll slam the thing and carry on with her business.

She wasn't a coward, and she'll prove that she wasn't. She _can_ stand up for herself. She had her parents' support. Her friends'. The next time something like this happened, she'll act. And now she should really stop this line of thinking and focus on the present. _Five more years_ , she reminded herself.

It was high time she upped her game.

Maybe she didn't know what she wanted out of this second life just yet. What she _really_ wanted beyond just surviving. Goals. Ambitions. Maybe it was because of that that she couldn't improve as much as she wanted. But somehow, and someday, she hoped to discover that down the road. But for the meantime, she was going to make sure that things started changing. How, she didn't know. But she'll start small and move on from there.

Yes, that wasn't a bad plan at all.

Lune gave her head a knock for good measure. She stood up from the living room sofa and made her way upstairs. She opened the door, entered her room, and swung it shut with a gently nudge of her foot before seating herself in front of her desk. The furniture was currently full of weapon schematics and crumpled paper.

She cracked her knuckles, grabbed her pencil, and hunched down.

There was work to do.

* * *

 **A/N:** This chapter might just be the longest one I've ever made. So much stuff I wanted to cram in, just as I've planned it... I'm just glad this is done and over with. That's mostly why it took so long. But if you guys managed to make it down here, yay! Not much to say this time, just that I hope it's up to everyone's standards. God knows I worked hard in finishing this. I know I'm pretty hard on myself when it comes to my writing, but honestly, it's my own way of getting myself to improve as I churn out more chapters. XD

So. Other than me hoping that last portion of the chapter wasn't too... off, I hope that is enough of an indication as to what should be happening next. I can't promise that it'll be mind-blowing (...mostly because I lack the creativity to do just that) but I do hope I get to do it right. As usual, thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story of mine! It's a fun diversion but hearing from you guys just make it a lot more fun.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

For some people, creating _or_ conceptualizing a weapon was easy. For some, hard but not maddeningly so. Unfortunately for Lune, it felt beyond hard. So hard, she'd kick the shins of anyone who told her it was brain dead easy.

Remnant weapons just felt so complicated to her. Hell, weapons were complicated in general, because she had to build one from scratch and certainly based from her own ideas. Just thinking of what form it would take was pressuring, and on a bad day, maddeningly so. This was _the_ weapon she was to own for the decades to come, after all. Maybe even her entire life. She knew she couldn't screw this up.

It was like, how could the others just decide what they wanted so naturally? It was as if they've known it all their lives. A long, distant dream they could reach with their hands the moment they were given the opportunity to do so. They've probably only spent an hour or two thinking about it while she'd spent days hunched over her desk, scribbling notes and comparing one weapon's feature to another. Her trash can was never empty of discarded ideas, and one time she was even close to tearing her hair off her scalp because she just couldn't find what really fit her to a T.

And to learn that her classmates were already gathering their own materials, if not already forging them with or without the help of Signal's resident smith? It was practically injustice.

Especially when it was an established fact that in Remnant, _any object_ could be a weapon.

Yep. Anything, if you knew you could kill a Grimm with it. Signal Academy taught its students for the first few years the usage of more conventional weaponry. That was true; you learned to crawl before you walked. But once the weapons crafting portion was out of the way, the rest of the time left was spent specializing. "Getting to know and trust what would be your lifetime companion," as some would put it.

More specifically, as _Ruby Rose_ would put it.

Lune chuckled at the idea of the energetic, red-haired girl practically marrying her weapon. The girl probably would, given the chance and the right weapon that described love at first sight. But… that was enough of that. She still had work to do.

She shook her head, tucking a stray, white lock of hair behind her ear afterward and refocusing on the sketchbook laid out in front of her. She was currently in the comforts of her room in the Beryl household, lying tummy-first on her bed with a pencil on her ear and a hand supporting her chin. Her elbow was planted firmly on the mattress. Her legs were bent, swinging back and forth, and she hummed as she grabbed her pencil once more. She scribbled a new idea on the open notebook right beside the sketchbook, and the sound of pencil lead scraping over the rough sheet sounded strangely loud to her rabbit ears.

A thank-god-this-was-over sort of smile stretched across her lips. She'd accomplished the task of narrowing her options down to a more manageable size so far. Anything heavy was struck off the list, and everything light was fair game. Speed over strength, she'd decided. Not that she couldn't hit worth a damn. Plus, her current size made sure that anything larger than her would just make things look ridiculous. Manageable, possibly, but still ridiculous. And _many_ things were larger than her. She suddenly frowned. Where the hell was her growth spurt?

There was a particularly embarrassing memory regarding one of the more heavier weapons she'd wielded before. One that she wouldn't mind forgetting forever, because she was fairly certain Yang was never going to live down the way Lune sent herself flying when she tried swinging a dust-infused zweihander. Neither would Ruby, now that she thought about it, judging from the wide-eyed stare and her open mouth when it had happened. Something told Lune the redhead was more concerned for the weapon, for some reason. _That_ _'s the last time I'm trying out gravity Dust._

Anywho, there were some basic principles to follow in regards to crafting a weapon in Signal: one, her weapon had to be something she could comfortably work with. Two, it had to be something that aligned with her fighting style. And three, it had to be something that made sense the moment it got all the bells and whistles it needed. Practical, that was the word. They weren't necessarily followed down to the last letter because there was always a prodigy and _they_ made weapons that worked surprisingly well (see: Crescent Rose) but looked utterly impractical or absurd. But to Lune, they were enough for her to go by as she went along.

She absently scratched one of her fuzzy rabbit ears. Now, back to the original question: what kind of weapon did she want? Should she go for something cool, something more practical, or something that was both? Hmm, definitely both, so her creation wouldn't suck compared to what her classmates already have. She could ask Ruby for help, but what would that make her if she couldn't come up with something all by herself—

The door suddenly swung open with a bang.

Lune screamed. She'd jerked back so hard, she went over the edge of her bed and sent her pencil spinning in the air. Basically, she fell. She was pretty sure her life flashed before her eyes as she did so. But then all that happened was her hitting the floor hard enough to see stars, and a groan escaped her lips as she wondered what the hell just happened. _Ow. Merde._ She gingerly rubbed the back of her head as she pulled herself up, using her bed as support.

She cautiously peered over the edge of the mattress. There could be an attack happening. Or worse.

But then, apparently, that wasn't the case.

"It's just us, silly," said Yang Xiao Long, who was visibly resisting the urge to burst into laughter as she stood there in the doorway. It was a futile attempt. The stupid smile on her face and her shaking shoulders wouldn't go away.

"Bothersome," Lune murmured. In a louder voice, she flatly said, "Just laugh it all out and be done with it."

And Yang did. Man, she had one hell of a laugh. She slapped her knee as laugh like she'd never laughed before. Ruby, her younger sister, could only stand awkwardly and twiddle her fingers as if guilty of a heinous crime. Lune waited for her friend to recover. Eventually, like a minute or two, Yang did. _That_ was when Lune shot the blonde an accusing look.

Yang raised her hands in front of her. "Hey, I didn't open the door. She did."

She, as in Ruby. The shorter girl looked guiltier by the minute.

"Yep, guilty as charged," Ruby said in a tiny voice, now nervously rubbing the back of her neck. She laughed awkwardly. "I got a little overexcited. Whoops?"

"Whoops," Lune echoed. Relieved that she wasn't under attack after all, she buried her face into the mattress. "I don't think I even want to ask why."

She didn't have to. The answer just scurried over to her as if by cue. She focused on her faunus hearing; the sound was faint, like many little feet moving at once across the floor, and her rabbit ears made a funny little twitch. It came closer… and closer… and then it was sniffing her leg. Or was it nuzzling it? From the feel of it, probably both.

…Wait.

What?

Blinking rapidly, Lune pulled herself away from her bed and lowered her head, gazing down at a…

 _Huh._ It was a tiny puppy, with a black and white coat and a face that could make the most stoic person smile at the cuteness. It had short legs, small ears that would no doubt become pointy in time, _and it was the most adorable thing she_ _'d ever seen_. The puppy sat on its hind legs and stared at her with its head tilted. Lune promptly melted.

"Aww," she cooed. She leaned towards the puppy to stroke its fuzzy head. "Hi there. Aren't you a precious little baby?"

The puppy, as if by cue, made a tiny bark of agreement. Lune melted anew. _So cute_.

"Told you she'd like him," she heard Ruby say to Yang.

"I don't think I've even seen her like this, ever," Yang said, amazed. She was staring at the faunus as she gently picked up the puppy and placed it on the bed where it wouldn't risk being accidentally stepped on. She watched how Lune quickly put away her things soon after, and her lilac eyes continued following the faunus as she walked towards a cabinet, pulled it open, and stuffed the notebooks inside. Lastly, she took note of how Lune shot a fond, fond smile at the tiny corgi.

Hey, better to have nothing to salvage from a puppy attack than salvage anything at all, right? Even if her current progress was crap compared to her classmates. With her sketchbook and notebook thus safely stuffed inside her bedside drawer, Lune sat on her bed. She turned to face her two friends and ignored the tickling feeling of having a snout sniff her curiously.

"What's this little guy's name?" she asked. Not that she didn't know, but technically speaking, she wasn't supposed to. Obviously.

"Zwei!" Ruby said with a bright smile, quickly crossing the distance between her and Lune in a red blur. By the time the faunus completely registered the presence of the younger girl, Ruby was already seated beside her and petting the puppy. "Dad got him from a friend of his. And it. Was. Awesome."

"His friend's dog gave birth to too many puppies. She couldn't keep all of them, so he offered to adopt one once they're old enough," Yang elaborated. She grinned. "So now we're taking care of Zwei when we're not too busy in Signal! Dad handles the weekdays. We mostly handle the weekends. And so far, nothing unusual has happened." Lune tried not to think of what 'unusual' would mean in regards to dog care. "Knowing Dad, though, that probably won't last long."

"Hey, at least it's not as _ruff_ a change as you initially thought it would be, having a dog to take care of and all," Lune said as she handed Zwei to Ruby, who immediately started cuddling the precious thing. Puppy Zwei was enjoying every minute of it. _So. Cute._

Lune smiled at Yang knowingly. Immediately catching on, her friend's face grew a thousand watts brighter. That was one hell of a proud look right there.

"I've trained you well. Keep going, and you might just be my protege," she said.

Lune stuck a tongue out. "No thanks. I'll just end up getting punched to the next year if I tried unseating you from your throne."

"Point."

"I try," Lune said with a shrug. "And while I like having you guys over, I distinctly remember saying I'll be busy finalizing my weapon plan." She gestured to the papers inside her drawer to prove her point. "Just paperwork, in a sense. Did you guys really go all the way from your house to my house just to show Zwei?" She petted the puppy. Zwei immediately started attacking her fingers with licks. She smiled again. "Even though he _is_ such a darling and a legit enough reason."

"Yes and no," Yang said. She walked towards the two in a few large, confident strides, and Lune moved aside to make space for the blonde as she sat right in the middle of her and Ruby. She wrapped her arms around their shoulders and gave a friendly squeeze. "Ruby and I decided that we're totally going to celebrate your birthday—which is in three weeks—with a bang. Or in my case, with a _Yang_."

"Why?"

"Because you're being too serious lately and we thought you should have fun for once!" Ruby answered. Zwei barked in agreement.

Now that was something Lune didn't know what to say about. Not because she didn't appreciate what her friends wanted to do for her (she did), or that they were half-right that she _was_ taking her combat training a bit more seriously (trying her best to, anyway), but rather… well, she just thought that birthday celebrations had kind of lost its charm on her.

Yes, it was true. Lune Beryl, previously Amelie Gauthier, didn't regard birthdays with as much enthusiasm as she had before.

Oh, sure, don't get her wrong, she _loved_ how her parents celebrated it with her through dinners in Vale or through gigantic cakes with candles she'd go blue trying to blow out (see: her eight birthday). She loved how she got to celebrate the birthdays she'd taken for granted in her past life, and she loved getting a reminder of how it was like to be a kid again. It was a rare thing she'd never thought she'd experience. It was also a thing she thought other, better people should have experienced, but she was here now and she couldn't changed that.

But at the present, she wasn't necessarily _unhappy_ about her birthdays. Birthdays were still a joyous affair. It was just that she'd realized that, for each year she celebrated, she was one year apart from her old life.

Strange, and stranger. What a thing to think about. Where she could have ended up if she didn't die, what she could have been doing. Her thoughts usually revolved around those whenever that time of the year swung by. Like, she could have found a guy to fall in love with and marry. And if he ended up being a cheating bastard, divorce with. She could have had a PhD or something if she tried hard enough, or hell, she could have won a lottery and be one of those millionaires who spent all the money in one go. The possibilities were endless.

But now, the most she could wish for was to even livethrough her twenties or thirties, what with Remnant's mortality rates and all. Funny how things were now.

She imagined herself shaking her head. She then put on her usual, lazy smile as she looked at Yang and bumped her shoulder against hers. "You guys are too sweet," Lune said. She meant it. "But if that involves surprises as bad as earlier, I'm not attending my own party."

"But she definitely will, because _I_ _'ll_ be the one dragging her into it. Not attending your own party? Sacrilege. What kind of daughter did I raise?"

All heads turned towards the doorway—Zwei included.

Leaning against the frame was a smirking River Beryl, whose arms were crossed as she looked at them interestedly with those vibrant, blue eyes of hers. Her short, white hair was tied in a ponytail today, and she'd opted to wear a tank top and a pair of shorts. Wait. Huh. That was unusual. She usually wore dresses.

Lune decided to put away that realization. Maybe her mom just wanted to wear something different. Should be nothing to be concerned about. Anywho, somehow it didn't surprise her in the slightest that the woman hadn't rushed up the stairs the moment the door slammed against the wall, either. Mom was always aware of who entered and exited the household.

"The kind that hates bad surprises," Lune easily answered, standing up and walking over to her mother to give her kiss on the cheek. "Hi, Mom. As you can see, the room's still intact. We're good."

"Yep!" Ruby said. "And I didn't break the door, so there's that. Oh, and uh, yeah, that door slam? Totally my fault. Sorry."

Mom shook her head, patting Lune on the head and pushing herself away from the door. "It's fine, sweetie. If it broke, it's not difficult to get another one. Lune here would just have to suffer a lack of privacy for a few days." She smiled wryly. "She's a tough girl—she can handle people suddenly learning her deepest, darkest secrets."

Lune would very much like to say that she valued her privacy and would retreat to her dorm for the meantime so no person knew her "deepest, darkest secrets." But Mom was just joking, anyway. Casual disregard was pretty much a part of her character, though whether that was just a front or not was up in the air right now. Still, if River Beryl was being honest, she'd be looking a lot more severe and less motherly than what she was right now. And blunter. And scarier.

"Then it looks like I have a door to break," Yang said jokingly and pretended to crack her fist. Lune casually pointed two fingers at her own eyes before pointing them at Yang. _I_ _'m watching you, bub_. The blonde merely grinned toothily.

Mom chuckled at the exchange. "Well, all talks of door breaking aside, we've got snacks downstairs if you're all hungry. I'd like to give Zwei something, too, but I'm not quite certain what kinds of food he could eat."

Ruby perked up like she'd just been told Christmas came early. The word "cookies!" could be practically read in her wide eyes, and coupled with that wider smile of hers, Lune knew that there was going to be a total cookie annihilation later. All that was missing was drool to complete the picture.

"That, is totally fine!" Ruby said in response. "We brought some snacks for Zwei just in case we stay long."

"Nice." River said in approval. She then turned to Lune. "And you, honey. You still busy fiddling with your weapon plan?"

"I'm taking five."

"Fantastic. Then you're going to train with me in the backyard. Right now."

Lune's eyebrows shot up. For the record, her mom had never involved herself in Lune's training before. River generally came to the rescue with the more academic aspects of her education. She'd go so far as to do shouting matches with any person that so much as discriminated her little girl. But offering to help kick butt better? That was one thing Mom never stepped forward to do. Until now. Sure, River Beryl certainly had the combat experience for that if the fact that she was a previous Beacon student was something to go by. But then she wasn't needed anyway, not when Vanilla or her dad was there already doing a lot of the legwork.

Something was up.

"I think I'd like to know why, first," Lune said. She was mindful of how Yang and Ruby's attention were now focused on the two of them; they didn't know Mom could fight. "Not that I don't want the help, but you usually don't bother with this aspect of Signal."

"Now I do. It's high time some things change around here," Mom said. Obviously, there was far more to it than that if the monotony was being broken. A lot of things were, these days. But whatever her mom was thinking, Lune could only hope it didn't mean bad things were coming. As if sensing some doubt from her daughter, the woman added, "Also, I've seen your report cards. They're not bad, but they don't fit my standards either."

"Ouch, but good point." Lune nodded. If her parent's standards were higher than her own, something told her this training was going to be hell. Well, whatever. She'll just deal with whatever her mom had in mind. "Okay, then. Training it is."

"Oh yeah!" Ruby then said, a thought suddenly occurring to her. When Lune looked at her with a questioning expression, Ruby's gray eyes shifted downward. She twiddled her fingers and asked, "You don't mind if I, uh, looked at your weapon plans while you go train, do you? I just want to take a peek and… maybe make some suggestions." She finally met Lune's eyes, lowered her hands, and smiled nervously. "If that's perfectly fine with you! You know how I'm like with weapons, right? I swear I won't mess around too much!"

Lune offered the girl a reassuring smile and a shrug. She didn't really have anything to hide in here. Her super secret notebook was stashed under her mattress, which shouldn't be of any interest to a weapons-crazy kid (Lune had even gone the extra mile and rewrote it to a more codified version), and… that was pretty much the only thing worth hiding. The rest were fair game. "Knock yourself out."

"Yes!" Ruby pumped a fist into the air. "Thanks, Lune!"

"I'll make sure she doesn't go overboard," Yang said. Ruby stuck a tongue out at Yang. Momentarily ignoring her little sister, she then smiled at River. "And thanks for the snacks, River! You're awesome."

"I know. But or a moment there, I thought I'll have to give you another tongue-lashing about how calling me Mrs. Beryl makes me sound too damn old," Mom said in a dry tone. "Smart of you to avoid disaster. In any case…" She turned away and gestured for her daughter. "Lune, let's get this game going." Then she walked away from the room and made her way downstairs. She didn't give the younger faunus so much as a backward glances as she left; she had the full expectation that her daughter would be following soon. And, well, Lune would. But first…

Thinking her mom was relatively out of earshot—if the fading footsteps were anything to go by—she asked the two remaining people in the room, "On a scale of one to screwed, how badly is this training going to go?"

"Screwed."

"Totally screwed."

Lune regretted asking.

* * *

She didn't really know what to expect the moment she swung open the door and stepped into the forest clearing also known as the Beryl household's backyard. All she knew was that she was going to see her mom in action for first time since forever, and the woman was going to be a merciless teacher considering the no-nonsense approach she took for the more serious matters. Lune's combat progress apparently fell into one of those, as of today. As she let her eyes adjust to the brightness the afternoon sun provided, she hoped that she still had any functioning body parts once this whole thing was over.

It wasn't difficult to locate her mother. Because there she was, just standing right there in the middle of the grassy area. She was waiting for Lune with a wicked-looking naginata in her hand.

She noticed where her daughter's eyes started wandering to. She smirked. Deciding to show off a bit, she then expertly spun the weapon with her hands before bringing the bladed part down for an imaginary slash. Nice. The green crystal stuck at the other end had shone as she did so. And, right before the naginata was completely brought down, the markings on its body had lit up like a Christmas tree and extended its glow towards the blade. It didn't take long for Lune to find out what happened after that.

"Really?" Lune could only say as she struggled to comb her now-messy hair using her fingers. The gust of wind that had blown at her wasn't strong enough to send her flying south for the winter, but it sure as hell resulted to one bad bed head.

"It's been a while since I got to handle this baby," Mom said as Lune walked over to her. She gestured to her weapon, which at closer inspection revealed that it had a certain mechanism that allowed it to shorten or extend. "Tempest, Lune. Lune, Tempest. I'd show you how it transforms into a gun, but we don't have any use for firearms right now."

"I wasn't really looking forward to being shot down anytime soon, anyway," Lune said lightly, causing her mother to stifle a chuckle. "So uh, why are we doing this again?"

"Like I've said, it's high time you started doing better in Signal," Mom said. "And, honestly, your training could use a bit more discipline. Much more than what your Professor Branwen instills on you students."

"Fair enough." Lune nodded. "So uh, now what?"

"We get to the fun part," Mom said. The smile she put on was anything but happy. It was bordering on sinister, the kind that brought to mind the image of storm clouds, flashing lightning, and torrential rain.

And because of that, Lune couldn't fault herself for fighting down an urge to swallow nervously. "Okay, then…"

But before her mom said anything more, she momentarily walked away to a spot where she squatted down to grab something lying in the grass. Something… brown? The grass covered it pretty neatly. When the older faunus returned, two fighting sticks were held in her hand. She tossed them over to Lune soon as she was near enough, and the younger faunus threw her hands forward to catch them in the air. She succeeded.

"So, here's the deal: if you manage to hit me just once, you won't have to do all the exercises I have in plan for you after this little evaluation test," she told Lune.

"Sounds simple enough," Lune said.

"Only because you didn't let me finish," Mom said with a wry smile. After a sheepish expression thrown her way, she then continued, "But if you fail, say goodbye to the rest of this afternoon because you're in for the ride of your life. And before you ask, failure includes _you_ getting hit by _me_ just once."

The pleasant expression on Lune's face froze. This time, she couldn't help but swallow at whatever horrors her own mother had in plan for her, her only daughter.

"Aw, come on, kiddo. It won't be that bad," Mom said as she noticed Lune's nervousness. There was nothing remotely reassuring with her words. "Chin up. It'll be a valuable learning lesson all the same. After this I won't disturb you with your weapon planning any longer."

"But it's not a _painless,_ valuable learning lesson."

"Nope." Scary how easy that answer came out of her mouth.

Was it too late to back out? Because she suddenly wished she was back in her room and pulling at her hair as she dismissed one weapon idea for another. She also wished that she didn't say she was free right now, but alas. Steeling herself for what was to come, she straightened herself up from her slump. "Fine… I'm ready."

Mom nodded. She readjusted her grip over Tempest and took several steps back. "Alright, then. Game on."

Lune returned the nod with one of her own and formed her battle stance.

Seconds passed without either of the two making the first move. They were just eyeing each other warily, knowing that the first move could be the difference between a fight in either fighter's favor or a fight towards their downfall. And since Lune didn't know what level of skill her mother possessed, making the first move might as well result to getting her own ass kicked. Patience was the name of the game. Let the opponent do the moving while she learned, and act accordingly.

"Well, we're not going anywhere with this," Mom finally said. She actually yawned before tightening her grip on her weapon. "If that's the case, fine, I'll start."

So she did.

Lune braced herself, reminding herself that her body was the main performer of this show, not her mind. Just like she'd been told a dozen times by both her teachers and her friends. She _still_ wasn't that good, but she was learning. And she'll prove right now that she was built of sterner stuff— _oh, gosh, dodge. Now._

The lunge came much, much faster than Lune anticipated. Thankfully, she managed to move aside just quickly enough to be a hair's width from an actual strike. Then when the weapon was about to slash sidewards, Lune flipped, doing yet another narrow dodge. She managed to catch a glimpse of her mother twirling the naginata expertly as she recovered from her own strike, ready to move once more. Lune ended up standing several feet away, ready for River's next moves.

"Lesson number one, kiddo," the woman said from afar. "You can't dodge everything. Learn to block."

"You're too fast."

"Then try to be faster."

Lune lamented the fact that today was a dry afternoon as she warily stood there, waiting. After an accident concerning a trampled flowerbed and a bully that tripped her, she somehow came out of it getting a better feel for the dew still stuck in the petals and leaves. She'd managed to form a ball of water after enough concentration, and she'd splashed them all on the bully's face. Of course, the lightheaded feeling she had after that made her incapable of responding to whatever taunt the bastard made before walking away, but there you go.

Lune tried focusing on the liquid that were inside the plants around her; she'd wanted to extract them so she had a second line of defense against her mother. But… she just couldn't grip them hard enough. The control slipped her fingers, and she had no choice but to cease the attempt lest she fainted from the effort.

"Well, then," Mom said, breaking Lune out of her trance. "Whatever you've been trying, it's not working. Was that a semblance? I'll help you out with that later. But for now… easy mode's over. En garde."

Her mother dashed forward with her naginata at the ready. The multiple, swift lunges she made only had Lune stepping back and barely parrying everything. There was a certain ferocity to those strikes—she just couldn't keep up.

She felt her back hit a tree. _Crud_. _Cornered._

To River's mild disappointment and to Lune's not-so-mild horror, the "spar" was over before it truly began.

* * *

Several minutes later, Lune was suffering from her loss big time. It didn't help that the _music_ being played by the scroll her mother brought with her was running at a tempo so fast she felt like a turtle. And she was forced to dance to it. Doubly worse was the fact that, in the background, Ruby and Yang were watching while simultaneously munching on some chocolate chip cookies. Zwei just sat there and looked cute. Lucky bastard.

 _I wanted some of those cookies, dammit. When is_ my _big break?_

"Are you"—she spun on her heel and made rapid footworks in accordance to the music—"sure this is completely necessary?"

"Faster," Mom simply said, nodding along to the tune. "And yes, honey. Your sense of rhythm is way off. You lack the energy, the _drive_ , and you sure as hell don't recognize the patterns of combat enough. No wonder you lose more often than you win."

"Not my fault… everyone's better than me," Lune said in-between breaths. _Christ, where did she get this track?_

"Excuses. At least I'm here to help, and _this_ should be doing just that. I did the same when I was younger." Mom clapped her hands twice. "Alright, keep moving. Just like that, and… good, good."

' _What kind of stamina did my mom have?'_ was the question Lune had as she desperately followed the music the best she could. This was, like, the sixth time she was dancing to the same song after her mom demonstrated the movements. The muscles on her legs were burning. Her arms were already on fire, and she was pretty sure no amount of water was going to douse them. She was sweating enough as it was; she could fill a pool with her perspiration if she had to. _Eww, maybe not. That_ _'s disgusting_.

"Suddenly I miss Dad's training regimen." She moved her arms, spun again, and later made a clap before repeating the movements in the opposite way.

"You and I both know that your father had been too easy on you. And… okay, a bit eccentric. Dodging balls? Really?" Mom shook her head. "His 'training regimen' is too soft. As I've now realized, you need a stricter approach. We go hardcore or we go home."

The song finally ended, and Lune dropped to her knees, panting like Zwei and wiping her forehead that kept leaking sweat. _No more_. After taking a few seconds to recover, she looked up at River. "Was that good enough?"

There was a pregnant pause.

"Almost, but not quite," Mom finally concluded. "One more try."

"…Will that be the last for today?"

There went River Beryl's super sinister smile yet again. She crossed her arms. "Nope. We're just getting started."

Lune promptly fell face-forward to the grass. The girl gave no crap to the fact that she could practically taste the soil… or feel an earthworm squirming somewhere close to the surface. _Wait. WHAT?_

In the background, Yang and Ruby winced for Lune, who still remained prone on the grass but was letting out a groan reminiscent of a strangled cat.

Screwed, indeed. Hopefully the next exercise would be easier on her.

* * *

She was wrong.

"Mom," Lune said as she stared at what lay past the edge of the roof she stood on. Her legs were shaking and she could hardly move—but it wasn't fatigue she was suffering from. Oh, no, fatigue was suddenly at the back of her mind after what Mom wanted her to do next. "I'm going to die."

River scoffed from down below. In front of her was a large, blue mat that God knows where she'd taken that out of. Conveniently nearby was the only tree standing away from its friends, and it was going to be key for the next crazy activity her mother had in mind.

Like, really, she was twelve going thirteen. What did she need to practice a _landing strategy_ for when her Beacon entrance exam wasn't anytime soon? Being ahead of her future schoolmates was fine and dandy, but this was just ridiculous. How did this happen again?

"Lune, this is barely even half the height you'll be falling from when the real thing happens," Mom said. She tilted her head to the side. "…You're scared of heights. Really."

"Yes!" It wasn't her fault this reminded her of some things she'd rather not be reminded of right now. _Yes, really.  
_

"Then this is one good opportunity for some fear conquering," she responded simply, stepping away from the mat. "You're lucky enough you've got a tree you can step on before you jump right down to here. Come on, it'll be over before you know it. You're not even going to break any bones with your Aura nice and intact. And trust me, when you're out there being launched into the air, you'll be thankful this happened."

"I'll be wondering why it's _necessary_ that everyone be launched into the air in the first place!" Lune tried to make a shaky step, failed, and opted to stagger backward instead. Too high. Vertigo. Nasty vertigo. "Can't we just do something else? Can't I just control a bucket of water and whip it around until you're satisfied?"

"I've got cookies as a prize."

"Please?"

The woman seemed to consider the idea. Then she shook her head. "Nope."

Lune started wondering what she'd done wrong as Amelie to deserve this.

* * *

No, seriously, she really did wonder if she committed a heinous crime in her past that Karma decided to kick her butt.

"You do realize that there could be Grimm around…" Lune paused to take a couple shallow breaths as she ran laps around the vicinity of the household with her mother. The dreaded landing exercise had been finally dealt with and she was doing her level best to block it from her memory. "…Right?"

"Do any of us feel depressed or anything similar? No? Then we're fine. Those things only come after anyone _remotely_ sad. And _we_ are so not sad right now." Her mother looked barely winded as she easily kept pace, even managing to pat her daughter on the shoulder. Lune no longer wondered what her mom did when she and Dad were busy outside of the household. Christ, she had much more energy than Ruby on a sugar rush.

"So what's this segment for, then? We've been at this for… like, a dozen laps already."

"It's all part of the exercise, sweetie. We're almost back at the house."

She wouldn't know if the house she saw in the distance was hers or someone else's, too focused on her breathing and making sure her feet kept moving one step in front of the other. And did her vision just dim for a moment there? No, that was probably just her. Lune shook her head and tried to focus on the dirt path—and the surrounding trees—ahead of them. "I'm… guessing… this is going to be a normal thing?" She said between breaths.

"Along with the push-ups, the intense weapons practice… and some projectile-dodging practice that _doesn_ _'t_ involve toys? Yup. Trust me… it's only hard the first time around."

 _What,_ a part of her almost asked out loud. _Like sex? Well, gee._ "Okay," Lune said. It was the only answer her brain could produce right now because oh, yes, that was definitely her vision dimming. And her consciousness, fading. Sort of. "…Weekly?"

"Weekly, but I'll be sure that you do some exercises while you're in Signal."

"But we're finally done now, right?"

Mom nodded. "Yes, we're done for the day."

When they finally reached the Beryl household, Lune nodded at her mother before dropping down like a sack of potatoes.

* * *

A moment of recovery later, Lune was finally done for the day—and maybe with life, as soon as she got the feeling in her arms and legs back. By the time she finally had a chance to lie down for a bit, the grass beneath her felt more blissful than ticklish when it brushed against her skin. She watched the sky slowly shift from an orange hue to a purplish one. Soon, the stars would be out. And soon, she'll somehow make her way back inside and sleep like the dead.

Yang and Ruby (and Zwei) had long since headed home, chaperoned by a horribly amused Qrow Branwen who'd caught a glimpse of Lune's dramatically collapsed form. The look on his face took on a drunken incredulity after he was greeted by an unusually cheerful River Beryl, who, on the other hand, seemed no worse for wear. Right before the family left, Yang had told Lune that she'll see her in class tomorrow and that she should totally look forward to the party. Ruby had excitedly stated that there was a surprise waiting for her inside her room.

And Lune? Well, she'd been too tired to be properly enthused.

But now, she felt like she'd managed to regain some of those lost energy. So with a count of three, she struggled to sit up, and then stood up on her own two feet.

It was during that moment that her mother came around to check up on her.

"So," Mom said. "Think you'll be doing better in Signal now?"

"I have no idea," Lune said. The tiredness dripped heavily in her voice. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "You're a terror, you know."

"Believe me, that's what I thought of my teacher when _I_ was the one doing all of these," her mother wryly said. She chuckled softly. It was obvious that she was replaying a certain memory in her mind. "She, on the other hand, was downright nasty. And the best part? I can't even hate her for it."

"A person you can't even hate. Who is she, then?"

There was that familiar, distant look on her eyes again. Was it sorrow she was feeling? Wistfulness? Happiness? It was hard to tell.

"My sister," Mom merely said.

"Your sister," Lune echoed. The thought slowly sank in inside her mind. "…My aunt, then. How come I've never heard of her?"

"Well…" An uneasy smile. "She's… resting now. Unfortunately for us, _she_ happens to be doing just that on the other side of Remnant. So, no visits from us. But obviously, we have reason to be scared shitless if _she_ does."

"Oh." _Sorry,_ Lune thought sluggishly. This was totally a different kind of territory she'd rather not walk into now. "Well, uh… so… moving on, why the sudden need for this? I know I'm not doing a good job as a Huntress-in-training, but I'm trying."

She felt a hand ruffle her hair. She was too tired to protest and simply let it blow over. Her mother pulled her hand back, clasped it with her other one behind her, and smiled a warm one.

Huh. A thought occurred to Lune. Maybe this hellish training was just her way of trying to help her out. Because, maybe, just maybe, the usual methods weren't working for her normally not-so-motivated self? Could be. If even the thought of the tournament and the class rankings did anything to pressure Lune into improving, then who was she to reject her offers of assistance?

"Well," she began, "I just wanted to prepare you better for the future ahead of us. The things we have won't last forever, so I thought, hey, when that change comes, I'm not allowing any of us to be blindsided by it."

Lune blinked. That was one kind of answer she didn't expect. "Are _you_ expecting something to happen?"

"…No. But none of us knows what the next day has in store for us," Mom replied. At Lune's particularly unconvinced expression, she sighed. "Okay, fine, crappy answer. It's just—I'll admit this much. I'm involved in something that I might go back to working on someday. What it is, I'm not ready to specify. But it is… a job. My job. And I've been reminded of how I've been slacking off long enough."

"So you…" Lune slowly worked it through inside her mind. A part of her felt... strangely sad at this admission, but she didn't have it in her to acknowledge it. "Want to do as much as you can do to help me while you're here?"

"Yes. But as for the 'while I'm here' part, who knows? Maybe I don't have to move around. We'll see." The relief on River's at Lune's understanding tone was practically heartbreaking. "I hope you're not mad at me after all those things I just did earlier." She scoffed at herself. "On second thought, be mad at me. I know you won't want an encore."

 _No, I don_ _'t_ , a part of her wanted to say. And yet, another part of her thought that this whole thing meant something to her mother. It was the worst training regimen Lune had ever experienced in her entire life, sure. But then, if she didn't get used to any actual difficulty, how was she going to improve?

This was for the best, she decided. No omelets could be made without breaking a few eggs, or something like that. Lune couldn't fault her mom for wanting to be a big part of her life, could she?

"I'm not mad," Lune replied. She smiled. "Honestly, I think… you're helping. Even just a bit. I'll have to see first how this goes first. But I don't mind repeating this whenever."

Mom returned the smile with twice the liveliness and twice the warmth. "Then I'm glad. I only mean the best for you. You know that, right?"

"Yep. And even if this was the harshest exercise ever, you're still my mom and I still love you."

A quick hug. "And I you, sweetie. I always do." Mom then glanced skyward, noted the stars that were slowly filling up the darkening sky, and nodded to herself. "Okay, I hate to cut this moment short, but I think it's high time we stepped inside, kiddo."

"It _is_ getting dark," Lune agreed. The two faunus made their way back towards the house. "If I don't pass out in my room, I still have to work on my weapons."

Mom grimaced. "Oh, right. Damn. I know I should have apologized for that too. If you still have the energy to work on it, you should." When they were finally standing in front of the back door, River held the door open for Lune, who headed towards the staircase stiffly. Like a zombie. "Go on and rest, sweetie. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"Okay. Thanks."

Even making just one step up the stairs was a challenge. She felt her leg shake from the effort; gosh, she knew she was going to be filled with regret tomorrow. And considering that there was combat class… well, maybe ol' Qrow would be a bit lenient then. He saw what happened. And, well, he was a bro, right? Maybe he won't let her do much. She hoped.

 _One way to find out, I guess._ Lune started making her slow ascent towards her room. For now, she was going to check out what craziness Ruby had come up with, and decide whether she had the skill to actually craft what the girl had in mind. She reached the door to her room several seconds later. She held the knob, twisted it opened, and pushed.

On top of her bed were several sheets of paper and a few old sketchbooks that hadn't seen the light of day since forever. She used to draw a lot to pass the time, she suddenly remembered. She made her way to the papery mess to inspect what the redhead accomplished. She saw some drawings that were clearly Ruby's idea—and was that a note with the words 'From Ruby' in bold letters? Lune's eyebrows rose at that.

She leaned down to pick up the piece of paper and unfolded it.

 _Hi, Lune!_

 _So uh_ _… the stuff you told me I could look at didn't really have much stuff in there. I really wanted to help you out, so I thought of looking at your other notebooks in your other drawers for some ideas instead. Hope you don't mind—I asked Yang first and she's fine with it! I mean, if I liked coming up with weapons and drawing them on paper before, then you probably liked doing them too, right? Sorry about the mess. But several searches later, voila! I found what I'm looking for. You're welcome. (and you can reward me with some milk and cookies if you want)_

 _I think you forgot you had it, but it was your drawing with what I think is labeled as an_ _'imaginary weapon?' I dunno, the pencil's blurred. But the drawing's still fine! I checked it out, thought it was cool, and set to work. The main thing's… mostly fine as it is and it's not a bad idea at all, but I wrote down some ideas that maybe you want to put in? You don't have to if you don't want to. But yeah! They're there. Just read 'em and you can tell me all about it the next day._

 _Looking forward to what you_ _'ll come up with!_

A stupid smile had stretched across Lune's face as she lowered the note and glanced over the sheet of paper that came with the note. That Ruby. Gosh. She bent down to grab the other paper, unfolded it, looked at the contents, and the smile on her face grew wider.

How could she forget this? It was the weapon she'd drawn alongside the clothes she imagined herself wearing someday when she was going to take the Beacon test. Not the one she showed to her mom before, but a remade one on a different sketchbook. She hadn't given it much thought before because her focus had been on the clothes themselves and the weapons as an afterthought. But what if… after all this time, she was subconsciously following what she'd come up with when she was much younger and still trying to get a better grasp at everything Remnant? Who knew. At this point in time, it was up for interpretation.

She could definitely work something out of this. Note to self: bring some leftover cookies tomorrow.

The weapons were simple, elegant in design, and most definitely something she thought looked cool enough. They consisted of two war fans, with metallic ribs that were bladed at the edges. Nice. They were perfect for slashing and, when folded, perfect for stabbing. Lune nodded in approval. She wasn't sure she'll take up Ruby's suggestion of making the ribs dagger-shaped so it looked like one when folded, but as a gesture of appreciation, maybe she should. The fans would also make for a fine deflector of projectiles when spread open, too. Once her deflecting skills were up to snuff.

The sketch had some notes about how the ribs could also be infused with Dust. But not the cloth itself—if she was going to go with cloths instead of making the whole thing metallic—and that part was specifically labeled by Ruby as a no-no because there was a reason why weaving Dust into clothes was a thing of the past. It was very much a hassle. Dust-infused clothing had to be replaced and resown every time it was all used up. Now, unless it was a one-time use, then sure, fine, go on and make those Dust-infused clothing. But usually? One was better off going with Dust chambers and the like.

Still, back to the main point: a Dust-infused, bladed fan would be awesome. It would also be a good motivator for Lune to work on her skills with Dust usage, dammit.

Lune suddenly forgot that she was tired. She felt the strong itch to get to refine this plan, stat. And, she sure as hell was not going to be denied, because she was going with this. She was totally going to go with this. Moving on to grab a new sheet of paper and a pencil, Lune got to working on her weapons at once.

Man, oh man, she couldn't wait until this baby was finally made a reality.

* * *

 **A/N** : Okaaaaay, I swear I didn't mean to make it horribly long again... but it happened. Yep, it happened. I guess I'm just incapable of going shorter with this story, haha. I'm just glad that nobody's been complaining about the length. I've originally planned to get the actual weapon dealt with, names and all, but I decided that'll be next chapter. I've written too much as it is, haha.

That said, I thought I'd go for something light this chapter. For a change and all. I sweaaar I'll do more semblance-related stuff in the future. I just couldn't fit it in right now with what I'm getting through before we finally hit Beacon. As for the latter, I think that's soon. Not _very_ soon, but soon, like 3 or more chapters. Depends on what I end up writing in accordance to my mini-outline.

Hope this one's to everyone's satisfaction! I know I try my best to churn out relatively decent ones. xD Also, if there are any formatting errors (spacing, etc. as per usual), I blame the doc manager. It does funky stuff with the document I upload sometimes. I'll get to it after I get some sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The girl that stared back at Lune from the mirror's reflection was definitely not a stranger.

Yet at the same time, she was. She was tall whereas Lune was short, dark-haired when Lune's was moon-white, fair-skinned when she was pale, and her cheery brown eyes were a stark contrast against Lune's green ones.

It was her past self.

 _Dreaming. Of course_.

The same kind of dream, in the same night, every year. Always related to anything that was a lifetime ago. It wouldn't have stood out from the rest of her dreams if it hadn't been so vivid, like she was reliving a memory in the flesh.

Lune stepped back from the mirror and turned around to take in what used to be a familiar sight: a room—Amelie's room.

The specifics would be entirely lost to her once she woke up, but she knew this room was hers the moment she saw the anime posters stuck on the low ceiling, the eternally messy bed, and the bean bag chair that was in a different spot in every other day in the week. Then there were her collection of plushies displayed in pride atop the cabinet beside the bed, the window seat at the far side of the room, and the desktop computer she'd managed to assemble after numerous consultations from all sorts of guides in the internet.

"You miss all these, don't you?"

Lune turned again to find herself face-to-face with her grinning past self. She raised an eyebrow. _Yep. Definitely a dream. This is getting too bizarre._

"I—"

"Don't answer. I can see it in your face, clear as crystal, bright as day," she said, her tone of voice almost musical in tone. She winked, took a step back, clasped her hands behind her, and turned away. "So, word of advice? Move on already. Stop thinking of the what-ifs about _that day_ and just enjoy your new life, dammit. You've got a lot of years ahead of you. Angst makes you so look so unflattering."

"I'm—"

"Oh, sure, your new life isn't exactly all it's cracked up to be, considering the circumstances, but it's as good as it gets," she continued. She shrugged. "Honestly, it's like a fanfic at times, y'know? Some ups, some downs, a touch of secrecy, a dash of oh-hey-I-know-this-will-happen, and some other things that are too good to be true. But you've gotten this far without getting mauled badly, so there's that."

"…Are you even going to let me finish my sentences?"

She looked aside at Lune and grinned. "I just did. Anyway, where was I? Oh. Right. You'll do fine without me holding you back. So just… let it go, okay? Just like that song in that Disney movie." She moved towards the door. "And don't follow me."

Lune blinked. "What?" Then her eyes widened. "Wait. No. I've got some questions, you weirdo. Don't just walk away like that!"

The faunus stepped forward to reach for her past self, but her hands only grasped at air as the girl faded from view.

* * *

And then she woke up inside her dorm room.

Darkness, save for the rays moonlight shining through the window's blinds. Night time. Early morning, past twelve? Probably.

The first thing Lune did was grasp for her scroll underneath her pillow to check the date. She pulled the gadget into view, powered it up, winced from the sudden brightness, and after a few seconds of getting her eyes adjusted, she performed a few touch commands and accessed the built-in calendar. She stared at the screen.

"…Oh." Her voice was a low whisper.

Today was her birthday.

* * *

Early afternoon. Combat class. And a certain rabbit faunus was beating the snot out of her opponent.

Lune had to admit, there was a certain satisfaction to be had with performing maneuvers in near-perfection. A certain pleasure in seeing her moves connect as she heard the sounds of flesh hitting flesh, and a certain high in _finally_ feeling like she could make her opponent give a damn about her. If it wouldn't be detrimental to her sparring session, she would have given herself a moment to pump a fist and whoop in joy.

For the first time in a long while, she was actually enjoying this.

Amazing, really, when things felt like they finally _clicked_ and here she was, steadily going higher and higher up the figurative mountain with nothing to knock her back down.

Lune saw the kick coming before her opponent could even raise his leg. She sidestepped accordingly and felt a burst of wind whip against her. Knowing this was as good an opportunity as any to punish the guy, she made a quick dash forward, spun around, and delivered her own kick that was strong enough to nearly knock the bastard into his knees.

But she wasn't done yet. She quickly followed up with an assortment of punches and kicks that, in the background, had Yang whistling, impressed.

Her opponent never got the chance to react—she didn't give him any. She was never going to doubt her mother again; those hellish dance sessions the woman had given her was finally paying off in spades. She moved with grace and precision, and… wow, getting into the rhythm of things _did_ help her in combat.

Lune then decided that it was time to draw this session to a close. After letting her opponent get close by pretending to miss a beat, so to say, making him think his chance finally came, she then activated her semblance and, while keeping up an appearance of struggling against his flurry of punches, she slowly, _subtly_ , made all the water on the floor slide towards her opponent until they surrounded him.

Hydrokinesis didn't really require moving her hands or any of her body. They helped make the water flow better, but she could just as easily move the liquid with her mind.

Or in this case, her aura. It required some skill in multitasking, sure, but hey, this was why she was constantly training with her semblance. It wasn't too difficult to imagine water as another part of her body now. Darn thing was like an additional arm. Or a leg.

Anyway, time for the cherry on top. She caught her opponent's fist and didn't let go when he tried to tug it back.

He scowled at her.

She winked.

And then she put her all into making her collected water rush at him like hungry wolves.

The fake geyser she made with her semblance wasn't going to win her any awards anytime soon. There weren't enough water, and it was mentally straining on her part to just put in enough aura to somehow increase the pressure… wherein the specifics would forever be lost to her because she was definitely no science geek.

But man, did it feel good to finally put into actual application something she'd been practicing during those semblance drills her mom made her do. The water basically sent her opponent flying at juuuust the right height. Not too high for her to reach, not to low for the guy to break out of his trap. Lune, putting a lot of power into her legs, then leapt up into the air.

The kick she delivered after flipping forward and swinging a leg down sent her opponent crashing down into the ground. Painfully.

(And to think, she used to be at the opposite end of a finisher like this.)

Some of the watching students winced. On the other hand, the ones who were faunus held back smirks. The guy that Lune had just beat, you see, wasn't exactly popular with that particular crowd. There wasn't really much need to explain why beyond the words "faunus" and "bully."

"And that's a wrap," Qrow said, stepping forward from the wall he'd been previously leaning on with folded arms.

Lune stood straight, stuffed her hands into her hoodie's pockets, and moved back. And, of course, yawned. Qrow noticed, held back a smirk, and nodded at her and at her opponent, who groaned as he pulled himself up. As predicted, he glared at her as if she'd committed crimes against humanity.

She ignored him entirely.

"So… A for awesome or F for freakin' awesome?" she asked her teacher.

"I'd say B for better than before, but no hard feelings—I'm just a really harsh critic," Qrow replied with a wry smile that Lune then returned.

"Good enough for me."

To be fair, it _was_ a fight that didn't finish in the first few minutes, which was the usual amount of time her other classmates spent sparring. She might have taken her sweet time getting a good feel of the combat's flow, and then there was the way she was going over some tricks before she finally found her momentum. But it was a huge enough improvement over the ones she used to have, so no complaints there.

She then returned to the crowd, an enthusiastic Yang greeting her with a hard slap on the shoulder and a smiling Vanilla with a quiet, "You did really well back there." All three returned their focus on Qrow as the man went on with his usual critique of the spar. Lune tried not to beam too much at the compliment sent her way after being told she made smart use of her semblance this time.

Yep. This time. Hey, that might have implied she still had the occasional screw-ups… which was true to an extent… but at least she was making progress. She took it like the boss she was and nodded at her teacher before he proceeded with the amusing act of chewing her practice partner out.

Something something don't lower your guard, be smarter in battle, etcetera, etcetera. It was something Lune had heard often enough that she could tune it out and still recall it with enough accuracy.

Then the bell rang.

"…And that's it. You guys know the drill by now. I'll see you all tomorrow," Qrow finished.

On cue, the students all filed out of the training room with the usual chatter filling the air. When Lune listened for a moment, she found that they were mostly talking about what they plan to do for the rest of the day.

She wasn't surprised; they only had one combat class for the entire day. All this free time was allotted for everyone in her year to fix up all the kinks of their weapons or do some private practice with them. Getting used to wielding a personalized weapon, basically. The next academic year was when things get a lot more interesting.

And harder.

Still. To them, it was just a typical day with typical things needed to be done.

But for Lune…

The moment she was out of the classroom and on her way back to her dorm room, she exhaled. She had to admit, that entire session was a good diversion. But now that it was all coming back to her… She kinda-sorta wanted to cling to that happy feeling she had earlier and not let go. Ever. She'd use super glue if she had to.

Birthdays. Argh.

She should be celebrating with wine, with a party—anything. Not thinking of the past. She _should_ be thinking about whatever kind of celebration her friends had cooked up for later—and the gifts they were working so hard to keep her from finding out. But she kinda… didn't. But, alas, the thoughts of what-could-have-beens stomped on that feeling like you would a pesky cockroach.

 _Just let it go, okay_?

Easier said than done. She wondered when she'll stop thinking of what her family and friends were doing now. Did they still talk about her? Had they just… moved on with life? They were questions she always asked herself every year.

She shouldn't. She'll never find the answers anyway.

Maybe… maybe she was just struck hard by mood swings this time and she couldn't help but feel bittersweet. They were part and parcel of puberty, after all. Which meant her hormones were going crazy with a capital C and—

"So, birthday girl," Yang interrupted her thoughts, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Lune nearly bent forward from the sudden weight. When she looked at her with a question in her eyes, the blonde was grinning. "Once Ruby's done with her classes, we'll be going on ahead to your house to prepare for later. Look forward to it. It will be a total blast."

"I trust it won't be something that'll scare a few years off my life?"

"Oh, ye of little faith," Yang said, bending her arm to give her friend a slight, friendly squeeze. "I promise that nothing's going to explode in your face. Huntress's honor. Well, huntress- _in_ -training, if we gotta be specific."

"You're really sure? Because I distinctly remember something that ended with a literal bang."

"That last time was a total accident and you know that."

"…Fine, fine. I trust you."

Yang grinned a toothy one. Leaving it at that, Lune took notice of her other friend walking quietly beside her. The teenager looked strangely wistful as she stared ahead.

"And you, Vani? I'm going to guess Yang and Ruby hogged all the work and told you to just come with me later or something."

Vanilla didn't respond.

"…Vanilla?" Lune tapped her on the shoulder.

The teenager blinked. Her mouth opened slightly and her cheeks were reddened as she nearly whirled towards Lune, who then withdrew her hand. "Um. Sorry about that. What were you saying?"

"I'm going to dance under the moonlight naked," Lune said with a straight face. Yang snorted and broke into laughter and Vanilla… well, she looked more like she was at a loss for words instead of blushing outright. Lune shook her head. "Kidding, obviously. Anyway, forget I asked. You okay there? You're not usually absent-minded."

The older girl smiled. But to Lune, it was painfully obvious that it was a strained one. "Just… thinking of something. I'm sorry. But about the party…"

"Yeah?"

"Hey, I didn't say _anything_ about the whole thing being a party yet," Yang said in a light tone. Lune elbowed her, which Yang returned with more enthusiasm. "Anyway, go on."

"Thank you. I'll probably… arrive later than expected. I have something to do with my older sister today. That's all," Vanilla said.

"Oh." Lune nodded, despite curiosity tugging at her deep inside her mind. "Well, I'll save you a slice of cake—"

"I didn't say anything about cake, either!"

"—so you get to enjoy something today, at least," Lune finished. And elbowed Yang again. The blonde stuck her tongue out. "Me, on the other hand… Well, I've got some things to do for the meantime while Yang here sets up what might be the grandest disaster of all time."

"Like?" Yang asked. "Also, I'm totally ignoring that last part."

"Refining my weapons, napping, whichever of the two reigns supreme," Lune answered. _Something else entirely, more like_. She shrugged like it was no big deal. "It's pretty boring stuff, to be honest. But it's gotta be done."

"Well, whatever keeps you distracted, I'd say," Yang said. "Rubes and I, we need to work our magic without interruption. It's an especially delicate process."

"Suuuuure it is."

And before they knew it, they were finally at the dormitory area. They entered through the sliding doors of the building and passed by the common room. The place was, as expected, filled with students of different ages doing homework, watching a movie, or some other things Lune didn't bother finding out. The three of them headed right into their respective rooms, with Yang promising Lune great, great things before parting ways.

"I'm serious about the explosions!" Lune told Yang before the blonde was completely out of earshot. In response and without looking back, Yang waved a hand as if to say, "I got this."

Now left to just the two of them, Vanilla and Lune wordlessly entered their dorm room and deposited their bags on the floor. Lune plopped down on her bed and savored the comfort it gave her, and Vanilla… was looking absent-minded again. Her eyes looked glazed, staring straight into the distance.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Lune broke the silence. "If it's personal, too personal, I understand. But just say so, at least."

Vanilla stared at Lune. "…Sorry. I didn't want to dampen Yang's mood earlier. It's just that, well, today is—um. The death anniversary of my parents. And… sisters—I had some older ones before… the accident. Which, um, explains why the age gap between me and Idrisa is that big." She explained. "Anyway, we're going to visit them in their graves today."

Lune knew she didn't have any parents, going by what Vanilla told her on the day they first met. But from the way she'd worded it, Lune had thought her parents basically ran off and left Headmistress Blackthorn and Vanilla behind. Abandoned, basically. So to learn that they were dead as dead could be… And that Vani had also lost _sisters_ …

Yup, that was definitely regret she was feeling right there, gnawing at her from the inside. From the sounds of it, Vanilla had it worse than her.

The whole thing was probably something her friend hadn't completely gotten over yet. Otherwise, the only feeling that should have been there was that of dull pain. Dull enough to ignore, to just keep on facing the day without breaking composure.

Losing a family. She couldn't even imagine how hard that was for Vanilla.

"I… see." She didn't really know what to say in a situation like this other than, "Sorry to hear that. And… thanks, you know, for actually considering me a good enough friend to confide in."

"It's fine. And you _are_ a good friend." Vanilla tried for a smile, ended up with a depressing one, and shook her head. "You know, it's been years since it happened. It's, ah, actually why I entered Signal so late. I wasn't in any condition to learn combat better. But thanks to my sister… I'm where I am now."

That actually answered some questions Lune didn't think too much about, having gone on with the flow.

"And I'm glad you're here," Lune said. "Headmistress Blackthorn. She might be a bit of a hardass at times—with a very, very loud voice—but she's definitely a good person. I mean, running a combat academy's already one hell of a job for someone like her who'd basically gone through the worst thing she could ever have in her entire life. To still be able to care for a sister? That's some sacrifice she's making there."

Vanilla nodded. "Yes. She's always been there for me, even when I know she's more torn up about our family than I ever will be. She's so strong to keep going just like that." She finally managed a small smile. "I really owe a lot to her. I should make sure she knows that, huh?"

"You should."

And then there was a knock on the door.

Lune and Vanilla first glanced at the front of their room before exchanging looks. Another knock. The faunus shrugged, slipped off her bed, and went to answer the door. When she opened it, a smirking Idrisa Blackthorn was lowering a hand.

Well, speak of the devil.

"Big sister?" Vanilla asked from behind, surprised. "I thought we're supposed to leave later?"

Lune was quick to move aside as the headmistress entered with the usual swagger the woman carried with her. Idrisa Blackthorn _was_ a woman of confidence. And considering that she's the headmistress, Lune couldn't exactly block her path if she had to.

"Well, it can't be helped if some things suddenly came up and I couldn't avoid it. You know how plans are; God forbid they don't end up ruined," Idrisa said. She shrugged. "So if you're ready to leave, come on."

Vanilla was standing on her own two feet before she could even say, "Right. I'm coming." She then walked over to her sister who, with affection clear in her eyes and her smile, patted her on the shoulder. Vanilla turned to Lune. "I'll be going now. Um, you'll be fine by yourself, right?"

"Don't worry, if anyone talks crap about either you or me, I'll kick their butts," Lune said.

Idrisa chuckled. "So long as you don't overdo it. Much as I do appreciate someone defending my little sister's honor, violence outside your combat classes is still not allowed."

"Of course."

"…If you get caught, anyway." Idrisa winked. "In any case, we ought to get going."

"Yes, I suppose we should." Vanilla had already moved towards the doorway.

Lune made a shooing gesture with her hand. "Don't let me keep you."

"Wouldn't dream of it, honey."

The two then started walking out of the room, Vanilla leaving first and her older sister following soon after. But before Idrisa could shut the door, she paused. There was a strange, indecipherable expression on her face as she turned back to Lune.

"Um." Lune blinked and sat straight. There was something penetrating about the woman's stare just then. "Something wrong?"

But in the blink of an eye, Idrisa was back to looking more like her usual self. She shook her head and faced the doorway once more.

"Nah," the woman answered. "It's nothing. You go on and enjoy your day, kid. Happy birthday, by the way. I hope it's a good one."

"Right. Thanks."

And then she left.

The door finally closed, the two sisters leaving silence in their wake. Lune could only stare at the front of the room as the seconds ticked by.

What was that all about?

* * *

 _River Beryl_ was expecting to see a vibrant young girl and her energetic little sister at her doorstep anytime soon. What she didn't expect, however, was the news she was watching on the living room television as she remained curled up on the sofa, waiting for the girls to arrive and help prepare for the small party.

"Bronwen Snow, a seventeen-year-old girl reported missing for the past five days, has finally been located on the Vale docks. But unfortunately, it seems that she is yet another victim of the recent string of killings happening within the city. While initially these murders have been reported to be isolated incidents, the police has discovered that each victim is female, human so far, and possessing a head of white hair. The motive behind these heinous acts have yet to be identified. But while the suspect is currently at large, rest assured that the Vale Police Department are working around the clock to bring this killer to justice—"

River shut off the television before she could hear any more, her heart beating hard against her chest. She swallowed, took several calming breaths, and stood up, pacing around the living room as she let that new information sink in.

 _Shit,_ she thought. _**Shit**_ **.**

It couldn't have been all a coincidence.

Someone was gunning for her.

All those dead girls… just because she decided to run from a certain responsibility instead of facing it head on. River couldn't fight off the regrets that threatened to overwhelm her. She should have been roaming the kingdoms. She should have done so the moment Lune was old enough to understand. Now, someone knows her secret.

Now, someone knew that secret was in Vale.

Whoever they were, they didn't know enough just yet. That their target was a faunus, not a human, that they didn't know she was in an island close to Vale, not on the city itself. Otherwise she'd be—no, best not think about that. She'd cut off communications from the others who were like her, having wanted to be rid of anything that reminded her of _that_ because she'd never, _ever,_ wanted this in the first place (this bullshit wasn't even supposed to be hers to manage _)._

But she supposed that nobody could hide forever, huh?

What rotten luck. Of course she'd be punished for running. For trying to put things off as far as possible. Of course karma would slap her with vengeance.

River stopped pacing and couldn't stop herself from stomping in frustration.

She bowed her head in deep thought. The question now was… was it too late to fix things?

And if it wasn't… how could she even do so? Ask help from the man she'd been avoiding for years? The very person—and his dream team—who came to her when enough was enough and was yet kind enough to give her leeway after her rude reception? She didn't even know what clues to go by because she was dealing with a total unknown. Didn't know this person's identity, nothing.

And Lune, her darling little girl, wasn't going to be safe at this rate—

"Congratulations, River, you're getting closer and closer to getting FUBAR'ed," she said to herself in a low mutter. "Ugh, this is all my fault. I'm so stupid. Stupid!"

There was suddenly a knock on the door.

River stood stock still, wondering whether she should open the door or not. Vert wasn't coming home until later this evening, so it was probably Yang and Ruby. On the other hand, what if she was about to be greeted by her end?

 _Wow, aren_ _'t you quite the paranoid one_ , she thought, shaking her head and deciding to open the door. She peered at the peephole… and found that it was the Rose-Xiao Long sisters. Paranoid indeed. _Stop being all doom and gloom when you_ know _you can deal with whatever threatened you, thanks to that supreme package you never asked for._ She shoved down her apprehension, put on a convincing smile—thank goodness she'd learned how to act decently—and pulled the door open.

"Hi, River," Yang greeted with a jaunty wave.

Ruby grinned, her hands clasped behind her. "Heya!"

"Hey, kids," River said. Thank goodness her voice wasn't shaking. "Ready to create the best party in the history of mankind?"

The two girls voiced their enthusiastic agreements. With a (forced) chuckle, River opened the door wider to let the two in. The girls were very eager to get inside.

As she watched the two begin chattering about how they were going to start the preparations, she couldn't help but hope that she be given enough time to fix her own mess.

* * *

Lune decided that she was definitely not going to spend her alone time in a dorm room that felt claustrophobic without the usual presence of her roommate. Plus, the place was dull. So to rectify the situation, she wrote a note for Vanilla in case the girl returned early, patted her prototype weapons goodbye, promising them she'll work on getting the supposedly retractable, hidden rapier fitting right inside the thickest rib, and left the room.

 _Now_ , she thought as she emerged into the outside, her eyes immediately assaulted by the rays of the sun. _Where to go?_

She wasn't really looking to spend her time in the library building quite a ways to her right. It was a nice place to do research in because of the decent collection of books in both physical and soft copies, and it was quiet enough that the most noise occurring were whispers and the occasional _shhh_ made by either the other Signal students or the strict, but sweet librarian on the front desk. On the other hand, accidentally stumbling deeper into the place could lead to the accidental discovery of teenagers practically eating at each other's faces… or worse, depending on their age and their boldness.

(Bathrooms were, apparently, so passé.)

The assembly area was usually off-limits unless there's an event in the academy like recognition days for those graduating or the occasional holiday event (dances, etcetera). The small stadium was also a prohibited place to go into, not until the upcoming tournament Lune couldn't focus on for obvious reasons, and the infirmary…

Why the hell would she want to be in an infirmary?

Thus, on a logical standpoint (maybe), her next best thing was to go beyond the walls of the academy. Not too far that a Grimm attack was likely, and not too near that she might as well have stayed in her room. A walk around the perimeter—that wasn't such a bad idea. So long as she made sure not to head into any depressing territory, figuratively speaking, that would attract the Grimm like flies.

 _Y_ _'know,_ Lune thought as she slipped past the large gates of the combat academy. _That leads to a pretty interesting thought. The four kingdoms of Remnant, doing their damnedest to keep their citizens happy and satisfied through any means necessary._ How had life been during the Great War, then, with so many negative emotions filling the atmosphere as the bloodshed had gone on? Fear, sorrow, anger, and so many more—those were enough to start off a monster party with a bang. It was a miracle that the kingdoms involved weren't Grimm-infested ruins at this point in time.

She shook her head. Well, no sense in thinking too much about it right now. All she wanted to do at the moment was have a quiet moment to herself, reflect on those days long gone, see how far she'd come, and figure out what to do from there.

Too bad that was a challenge in and out of itself. Because on the day she'd died, she'd pretty much sealed her family's fate by no longer being the last person to keep them all together.

* * *

 _In a city whose name she no longer remembered, in a country she knew was somewhere in the west. Thirteen years ago._

She couldn't believe it when she'd heard it from her siblings first. And even after her parents had pretty much flat-out told her what they were planning to do, she still wondered if this day was just a dream.

"Amelie, dear, I know this is going to be hard to take in. But your father and I… we're not going to stay together anymore."

A divorce. It just didn't add up when her parents had never even fought each other once.

Every day, they'd greet each other with smiles, sometimes with the occasional kiss that had her smirking and her siblings making fake, disgusted noises in the background. They'd always agreed with each other, were quick to talk out any problems encountered, and if their Date Night Fridays were of any indication, they had the healthiest post-marriage relationship there ever was. Perfect enough to even make any other couple go green in envy.

So for them to break things off? Just like that? It was mind-boggling.

She couldn't accept it. She just couldn't, not when so many would have moved mountains just to have what they had. So she did the only thing she could after being told of the big news: nod, turn away, and leave for school without a single word.

There has to be something she could do to stop it. She didn't want her family to fall apart just because of that.

"Yo, Earth to Amy! Are you still listening or do I have to re-enact Operation H2O?"

Operation H2O, also known as her Savannah Lim's—her self-proclaimed bff-forever—infamous water sprinkling tactic used on friends whose heads were threatening to be lost in space. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't _ice-cold_ water she kept using, but alas.

Amelie—Amy, as her best friend had taken to calling her—blinked at the hand being waved in front of her face. She forgot for a moment that she was spending her lunch time in the cafeteria, on a table they've taken for themselves with a tray of food that was almost as equally forgotten. She was quick to munch on a cookie.

But then the words her best friend told her finally registered in her mind.

She grimaced after she swallowed down the chocolatey goodness. "Please don't."

"Then pay attention or, you know, face my watery wrath," Savannah said, grinning. That faded, though, the moment she noticed the frown on Amelie's face. "On second thought, let's forget about that for a moment. Something is clearly wrong here."

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't be Miss Doom and Gloom if that wasn't the case. So here's the thing…"

Amelie told her everything that had happened that morning. Somehow she even managed to start sharing what this meant for her siblings, who thought everything was going to be fine despite knowing what was up. She talked about her fears of the future, of having to choose who to stay with and wondering if things would be the same way ever again.

As soon as she finished, Savannah smacked a hand down on the table. That, in turn, caused many a student to look at their table with either confusion or annoyance, but the bespectacled, dark-haired and intense-looking girl who committed the act itself was too busy not caring.

"Then this calls for an emergency," she then said, with an air of seriousness and tone of voice that implied a plan was about to be hatched. "You and me, a trip to the mall later. Let's see if we can work something out, save a marriage from total disrepair."

Amelie's eyes widened slightly. "You have a plan?"

"Sure do, _ma cherie_." Savannah nodded. Her use of that French term made Amelie smile a bit, knowing that her friend was referring to her part-French background. But then Savannah's expression took a turn for the sheepish. "Well. Actually, not yet. But that's why you and I need to have this trip later. Hopefully with some milkshake to sweeten things up." Her eyes almost glazed over at the thought of the beverage Savannah loved. Almost. "So no more moping, you hear?"

Somehow just hearing her friend say everything was going to be okay was enough for her to face the day with a better mood. "Alright, alright. You have my word. Pinky swear."

And they did. Literally.

That was pretty much how they ended up in the only mall in town, several hours of boring classes—and a mildly gross Biology one—later. While the building had clearly seen better days due to the lack of consistent maintenance, the structure still stood solidly enough not to collapse the moment a couple of people stepped within.

It _could_ use a new paint job, though. At least that, if not ensuring the public that the crack on one side of the wall was going to be repaired soon.

"I just don't get it," Amelia said as she and Savannah spent some time in their favorite go-to place for some snacks and, in the words of Savannah, "some comfort food."

"Well, honestly, I'd think that some things just aren't that obvious," her friend said. She took a sip from her milkshake. "Just think of how it happens at our school. You have those bad breakups, all stormy and earth-shattering, and you've got those couples who just part ways peacefully and promising each other they'll still be friends." She shrugged. "Could be that they just have some opposing views or something that really gets in the way of daily life that they just have to split. Or jobs. Some jobs demand too much—at least that's what my auntie says. You didn't exactly stick around to hear _why_ they're filing for a divorce, didn't you?"

"What else was I supposed to do? Throw a tantrum?"

"It beats running off just like that, that's for sure. You really should stop doing that, by the way."

Amelie practically winced. "Sorry. You know how I am. I got spooked about what this all meant. Couldn't help but put it off until I've settled my thoughts, is all."

"You always were one to retreat and come back once you have a plan in mind," Savannah said, smirking. In reassurance, she patted Amelie's hand that was resting on the table. "But that's why you have me! So. Let's see what we can do about this…"

A good fraction of the afternoon had ended up being spent by Amelie's friend coming up with all sorts of ideas ranging from the super simple to the overly complicated. All the same, it ended with an Amelie that felt much better than she did that morning.

Maybe it had something to do with having someone watch her back when things go south. Or maybe it had something to do with knowing that things might not be as bleak as she'd thought since she wanted to believe that she could still salvage this whole thing by the end of the week or something. Either way, it made hope bloom inside her and had her thinking that she could do this.

Of course, she'll have to first find out the root of the problem. But from there, she could alter the plan accordingly. If things went just fine, there wouldn't be a divorce. Yes, there _won_ _'t_ be a divorce or she'll die trying. Her family's stability was literally on the line here.

"You," Amelie said once her best friend finished with a proud smile, "are a saint. I could kiss you."

"Kiss away." Savannah gestured to her lips. Jokingly, of course. "I _know_ I deserve it after a job well done."

"How arrogant," Amelie wryly said. She took a relieved sip from her own drink, a sharp contrast to the stressed ones she'd done before. It was, like, for every thing that made her nervous, she took a gulp.

"Please, honey, you wouldn't have it any other way." She winked. Then she stood up. "Well, now that we've had that out of the way, let's bolt. Wanna go window shopping on our way out? I also have a particularly delectable piece of boy toy I _have_ to talk to you about." She grinned. "There's a dance coming soon, if you'll remember."

Amelie followed suit, right after she finished the contents of her drink. "You mean that cutie during Math? I'm surprised you're awake enough to notice anything as our ol' teach drones on and on _and on_ about square roots."

"Trust me, I almost missed him." Then, pretending to be an escort during prom night, she held out an arm for Amelie to link hers with. "Now come on, compadre. We've got sights to see. And much chatting to do."

So they did.

For the first few minutes, things seemed to be going just fine. Savannah talked about a wide range of subjects, gesturing wildly as she did so, and Amelie was content to nod and listen as the two took a leisure walk towards the escalator at the other end of the mall.

And at the same time, she thought about how she was going to deal with later. She'll have 'the talk' with her parents, make adjustments to her next plan of attack, and if everything succeeded, she'll buy herself some merchandise of her current favorite animated show online as her way of celebrating a plan well executed. It was probably not the best way to spend her savings, but hell, she was getting those RWBY plush toys or hell would be raised.

Things were definitely turning up. Or at least, she thought they were and she was just being fatalistic or something equivalent earlier.

The day still shaped up to be a good one instead of a total flop, after all…

But then she was proven wrong.

They didn't notice the commotion at first. There was a strange ringing sound from those detectors placed at the store entrances, but since they usually meant false alarms, they hadn't given it much mind and continued at their leisurely pace.

After the shouts, though, that was when the two friends finally stopped to see what's wrong.

A store theft. A nondescript man wearing what appeared to be a large, black jacket was running from a security guard who was chasing him as well as radioing the other guards with the walkie-talkie in his other hand.

The thief was running and shoving people out of his way and—

"Move it, you idiots!"

He'd thrown his hands forward and shoved both Savannah and Amelie aside. He'd done so with so much force that Savannah was thrown aside, hitting another shopper and ending up crashing on the ground in a tangle of limbs. There were cries of indignation.

And Amelie?

She ended up bumping against the railing on her right—

"Oh my God. Amy!"

And went completely over it.

She never got a chance to grip onto anything for dear life. All she could do was hurtle down, down, down from the fourth floor, literally watching her own life flash before her eyes and her opportunity at preventing a disaster slip away from her fingertips. At a happy ending.

She wasn't going to end up being the person who managed to keep her family together.

She… was going to be the cause of their total disrepair.

 _I_ _'m sorry I never got to fix things._

 _I_ _'m so, so sorry—_

A burst of white.

A shock of pain.

And then, nothing.

* * *

Lune shook her head from her reverie and let out yet another sigh. For a moment, she could almost believe herself to be back there, in that mall, feeling light as the air. But with a couple of blinks, she found herself surrounded by trees. Not stores of a different variety of names.

Well, obviously, she couldn't do anything about that whole thing now. And in hindsight, it definitely was pointless to worry about because this, right here, was her life now. A girl like her just couldn't help but think about things at times. That's all. And considering it was her birthday, well, that made her trips down memory lane feel somewhat necessary.

Right now, though, she thought she'd spent enough time alone. She should go back to her dorm room, wait for Yang and Ruby to come back and fetch her, maybe blindfold her or something, and celebrate a party with her new family.

And then go through another year sorting herself out and separating Amelie from Lune.

Lune nodded to herself. Absently, she traced a finger over one of her rabbit ears. _Yeah, I definitely need to go back now_.

So she turned around to retrace her steps…

Only to pause because there was someone blocking her way.

That person… it was the same one she'd bumped into back when she was in Vale during the last day White Fang was a nonviolent organization. Small world.

"Yes?" Lune asked.

On the outside, she looked nothing more like a bored girl who was looking forward to a nap somewhere safe. But on the inside, something about this encounter struck her as wrong. Very wrong.

The man—woman?—didn't say a word. All they did was step forward…

" _She_ sends her regards."

And the last thing Lune saw was that person as something collided against the back of her head and sent her consciousness drifting away. She had a thought that the person had an accomplice to do the actual takedown, them being the distraction and the other being the action man or something, but by the time that sunk in, she was already long gone.

* * *

Lune later awoke to find herself tied from head to toe, with a blindfold covering her eyes and some thick ropes chafing against her skin.

 _Seriously? A kidnapping?_

Talk about a curveball. She didn't even remember being on anyone's radar!

Obviously, she didn't know where she was. She didn't know how long she'd been out, either, but surely it couldn't have been that long. Lune tried struggling against her binds, only to find that whoever did this really meant business if they'd tied her up so tightly that dislocating a wrist just to get herself free might not have done much. She wouldn't really know; this wasn't covered in the curriculum for some reason unspecified.

So what now?

She could use her semblance, but feeling things out with her aura—a handy trick she'd learned from the best—didn't reveal anything remotely liquid. No rope-cutting water shenanigans here. And she wasn't sweating, either, thanks to the… air conditioning(?). That option was out, too.

Great. All she needed to be was a duck faunus or something to be a literal sitting duck—

Wait.

She could hear something.

"…good feeling about this one…"

"An easy job…"

She tried focusing on her rabbit ears until, finally, she could hear more than just snippets of whatever conversation was happening at the moment.

"Considering what's being aired on the Vale News Network right now, this better not be a flop. It'll be on your head if the cops hear about this one. I can get away scott-free, but you… yeah, you're screwed."

"Don't worry. I've got a strong feeling about this one, ma'am. She could be who we're looking for."

"We'll see. Show her to me."

"Right this way."

Footsteps, coming closer and closer.

There was the sound of a door opening, even more footsteps, and then, finally, she felt a pair of hands grab at the piece of cloth covering her eyes and untying the knot. Seconds later, the thing was finally off. Lune blinked at the sudden brightness. Her eyesight shifted from blurry to clear and…

At first, seeing a familiar face had her feeling nothing but relief, warm and light. For a moment she thought, yay, she was going to be saved, even though this wasn't doing her own dignity and pride any favors.

But then, the lack of action and a cold, cold stare had whatever happy feeling she had killed off brutally and efficiently.

Lune couldn't help the chill that went down her spine as she took in that spiky ponytail, that height, and the fur-lined coat.

"You got the wrong person, genius."

Her kidnapper was Idrisa Blackthorn.

* * *

 **A/N:** Aaaaaaand that's a wrap, folks. Honestly, this chapter has been long due for an upload. Life got in the way, is all~ I hope this was a satisfactory one.

Also, please note that any announcements I might have about chapter updates are found on my profile. I don't really do Author's Notes as a separate chapter - it's a violation of the site's rules. So if you're wondering where the hell I am with Usagi, just go there.

To be honest, I don't really have much to say. Things are going according to what little I've outlined for the most part. Writing it all out is just the challenge, is all, and I'm thankful for th feedback.

Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter, whenever that is! Being in college makes for quite the busy life.


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